Since I have two daughters, people have always told me how we were in for “trouble” when they each hit about 10 years old – how boys are far easier than girls, and how it was going to be difficult for us with daughters who get all hormonal and moody and nasty and all of that.
The Princess is five, so I figured I had a good few years left before the mood descended upon our house.
Wrong-o.
But you know who the culprit is? NOT my girls. Stepson. I realize that boys go through puberty too, and that they have hormonal things going on, but by golly if Stepson is not acting like the biggest goober – and all day long I have been thinking to myself, “Does he have PMS?!” He has burst into tears about three times today – and to be honest, sexist though it may be, I am just not used to seeing that much emotion from boys (even grown boys…ahem, MEN). I think there is a fine line between healthy showing of emotion and crybaby. Stepson definitely stepped over that line today.
I couldn’t tell if we were coming or going with him. This morning, Hubby had to run to a client’s office, and then back to his office to drop off some paperwork. He had debated stopping home after the client visit, picking up Stepson and taking Stepson with him to the office. He told me he’d call and check with me first, see how I was holding up – and then make the decision whether or not he’d come here. When he called, the kids were playing nicely and life was fine – I figured, Hubby need not stop. He could go to his office and back much quicker by himself, so, I’d hold down the fort. Stepson had apparently thought it was a done-deal that Hubby was coming home for him, and when I said that wasn’t the case, he started sobbing that it was “BULL!” and I “had no right” to tell Hubby not to come home for Stepson. I let him do the drama stuff – he ran off to his room, I left him alone.
Meanwhile, I was thinking, “Huh?”
You see, I honestly don’t think I had any idea that boys got this way too. And I know that my stepson is by far not the “typical” boy – he does tend to be emotional, and he is young for his age, but he was as moody as I tend to be, um, once a month, and I didn’t know what to do besides stay the hell away (which is always what I prefer people do for me. Unless they have cookies. Or Chex Mix).
We had another incident this afternoon that involved tears. The reason for that one is so stupid I dare not even post it, but did include Stepson bursting into tears and trying to throw down the f-bomb. NO CHILD will use that word in my house and think it’s okay. I don’t swear much, and I don’t swear in front of my kids, and I certainly don’t swear in front of my parents and I’m thirty. It’s a respect thing. Respect me enough to hold your tongue and not use that language. I can tolerate it from my peers, I can’t from a kid. And Hubby felt the same way, which is why Stepson was having to pound out 25 pushups while Hubby was telling him that such language was not acceptable in our house. (I love my military husband – pushups are a frequent method of “punishment” here).
This evening, Stepson ran off in tears because a lightbulb is burned out and he is, in his words, “pathologically afraid of the dark.” The irony of him thinking he’s man enough to use the “f-word” and still kid enough that he’s crying about a dark hallway, blows my mind.
I honestly never expected such hormonal shifts from a boy. I have no idea if this is normal (any mom’s of boys out there willing to shed some light on these creatures?!), I only know that after going through this with Stepson, I will definitely be old-hat at it by the time either of my girls hit puberty.
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