Oh Boy

We attacked the basement today with the hopes of first finding the floor and then making the playroom somewhat orderly. The kids and I succeeded, but not without a little blood, sweat, and tears. Well, maybe not the blood part. Birth order played a large part in the cooperation given by my kids. From that, you can tell that my little one had lost interest not too far into the project. She needed much prompting, so prompting she got.

The interesting part of the afternoon came as my little man started fussing to beat the band. I mean, why should he be the ONLY one to take out the mountainous pile of trash that we had acquired? This job was taking WAY too long for his interest. Keep in mind, that I have only one boy and three girls. Obviously, boys are different from girls in more ways than one. He wanted to run, jump, and play not organize, clean, and straighten. Cleanliness and orderliness are not at the top of his list.

To keep him engaged, I had a brainstorm. Not really. I just remembered something I had read in Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson. Boys thrive on being active. They take more risks. They like to get dirty. I honestly knew this in my head, but it was as if a light bulb went off in my head this afternoon, so I gave him a new project. He no longer was just taking out the trash, but he was smashing down any boxes. He was crushing whatever he could. In awe of what I was telling him (was his prissy Mom telling him to really do this?) he asked if he could get IN the trash can. "Yes, of course, as long as you have shoes on." That was the end of the fussing. You would not believe how quickly the trash was taken care of. I learned later that he had even gone head first into the trashcan. Why, I don't really know, and I am glad that I know this after the fact. (I have a wise son.)

I love my kids. They did a great job. We have a cleaned basement, and I learned how to be a better parent today.