I am not a professional by any means but am raising a boy so I thought I would share some of my experiences of being a boy mom! I honestly thought I was having a girl, so when they told me I was having a boy, I had to get all the thoughts of braids and bows, ruffles and sparkles out of my mind which seemed to come easy to me as I was that kind of little girl.
Throughout my pregnancy, as I would browse through Target in the boy-baby section, everything was sports or animal-themed. Typical cliche boy. I was disappointed in the selection of boys vs girls clothing. But in the end, when my son was a baby/toddler, I fell in love with the Petite Lem brand from Nordstrom (which is good and not good since it’s not cheap). However, I was really lucky to find that a resale shop near us was cycling that brand at the time when my son was young! Now, once he started really moving around, I cared less about what his clothes looked like because he was getting holes in the knees and dirty every time I turned around! Sometimes, I would honestly just throw some of his clothes in the trash because of how dirty they would get! Ha!
I had no idea boys could be so busy that you have to keep one eye on them at all times! Our son was always trying to climb things. Redirecting was sucking the hours in the day so we went to the park A LOT. Swinging, running, and digging in sandboxes was our jam! Anything where he could run around and get out his energy was key! He also LOVED helping so anytime we would clean up his toys for the day, I would make up little songs and have him help me put everything away. (I laugh as now that he’s 11, I will jokingly sing the clean-up song and he totally remembers!)
Lastly, I was shocked at from an early age by how our son was “emotional”. I had this preconceived notion that boys are just rough and tough. But the sweet side he showed and still does, I just soak up! He can tend to bottle up his feelings though so I have always paid close attention to this and at the different ages he has been at, I would get on his level and talk to him about his emotions and how we could fix whatever issue he was having. Being patient and validating his feelings over the years seems to has kept our communication with each other very open, which I hope continues getting into his teenage years! (I may send for help….)
Boys are definitely a different beast than girls and I would say you go through relatively the same stages with both genders, just in different ways. Always keep in mind though, that your child is unique and will need different things along the way. Having a close family and friend unit is invaluable as it really takes a village to raise them!
