I had a bit of a breakthrough today. I know that boys are nice. I know that they are not all meaners who only enjoy acting like turkeys. I know that they do not live to pick on littler boys... But I got to see a few of them in action today and learned that they are actually (dare I print it for all to see?) sweet!
After our trek to the icy cold, difficult to navigate, long to drive to, muddy on the entries and exits and no place to sit river, the kids appetites for swimming had been whetted. So after Jethro took a tee-tiny nap (that bug is visiting him now) we all went down.
Our little ones enjoyed the warmth of the standing water (the in pool temp gauge read 90 degrees- every one of the kids checked it! ha!!) and had the pool to themselves just about. Until the big boys came. There were 4 or so big boys, one of whom brought along his young brother/nephew/cousin. These big kids started whopping and whooping each other with noodles and jumping on each others' heads and splashing and rough-housing together. My motherly instincts bristled a bit. Would they accidently hurt my young? (I felt like an anthropologist studying a newly discovered tribe of hooligans) What do you think happened? Do you think one of them hurt one of mine? NoPe! In fact, here's little Big Talker 3 who got ahold of their ball (the one they had been hurling at each other and leaving large round welts on each others' backs) and asked, "Will you throw the ball to me?" At which point, this boy stops his interaction with the other wild ones and takes a few steps backward and gently tosses the ball to Big Talker. He did this for a few minutes until Big Talker lost interest.
There were other such moments as these and it was then that I realized that unlike my preconceived notions of teenager boys, these were actually gentle to the little ones and careful around them. They even were sweet in ways which surprised me... I guess you really do learn something new every day.
Pictures... The kids trying to get Dad in the pool. Noodles tied into knots are what the girls love! Laughing Son doing cannonballs.
No comments:
Post a Comment