"What Were You Thinking?"
I'm currently reading Wild Things by Stephen James and David Thomas. This current read is fresh. Real. Practical. I say it again, practical. Hilarious. Relevant to the current culture being thrown at our boys. They separate boys into different categories based roughly on age. For example ages 2-4 Explorers! And ages 5-8 are titled Lovers. Ever since our Big Boy has turned 5, we've noticed a dramatic shift in his overall spirit and interests. This book's commentary on the age 5 boy nailed it on the head for the Husband and I as we read it. So refreshing! I just read a chapter the other day titled, 'A Boy's Brain'. Here are the opening paragraphs:
Six-year-old Mark was visiting his friend Luke's house. Boys being boys, it wasn't too long before they found Luke's big sister's stash of green nail polish. Both boys loved to play superheroes, and it made sense to them that this fingernail polish was perfect for turning themselves into the Incredible Hulk. Luke convinced Mark he could become the Hulk only if he painted himself green --- which Mark proceeded to do, right down to the green weenie. Later, as Mark's mother wipe off his genitals with fingernail polish remover, she asked, "What in the world were you thinking?"
When Derek was eight, he was sitting on the edge of a tree fort about twelve-feet high and accidentally pushed off his friend Gavin by slapping his back and saying, "What would happen if you got knocked off?" Gavin broke his arm. En route to the ER, Derek's mom said to Derek, "What was going through your head?"
Jeff and his dad got into a serious fight one evening over curfew. That night, after his parents had gone to bed, Jeff packed some clothes in a duffel bag and set his alarm clock for 5am. When he got up, he took forty dollars and his mom's credit card out of her purse in the kitchen and then slipped out of the house on foot. When Jeff's dad came to wake him up at 6:30, he found an empty bed. An hour later, the police found Jeff, about five and a half miles from the house, walking through a field on his way downtown to the bus station. As he was placing Jeff in the back of the patrol car, the officer asked, "Where were you thinking about going?" Jeff replied, "I don't know, I was gonna figure that out when I got to the bus station."
I love my boys. I love having all boys. They keep me out of my box and challenge me to laugh more, pray more, and plan for nothing going exactly as I hoped. Things usually go much better.
Six-year-old Mark was visiting his friend Luke's house. Boys being boys, it wasn't too long before they found Luke's big sister's stash of green nail polish. Both boys loved to play superheroes, and it made sense to them that this fingernail polish was perfect for turning themselves into the Incredible Hulk. Luke convinced Mark he could become the Hulk only if he painted himself green --- which Mark proceeded to do, right down to the green weenie. Later, as Mark's mother wipe off his genitals with fingernail polish remover, she asked, "What in the world were you thinking?"
When Derek was eight, he was sitting on the edge of a tree fort about twelve-feet high and accidentally pushed off his friend Gavin by slapping his back and saying, "What would happen if you got knocked off?" Gavin broke his arm. En route to the ER, Derek's mom said to Derek, "What was going through your head?"
Jeff and his dad got into a serious fight one evening over curfew. That night, after his parents had gone to bed, Jeff packed some clothes in a duffel bag and set his alarm clock for 5am. When he got up, he took forty dollars and his mom's credit card out of her purse in the kitchen and then slipped out of the house on foot. When Jeff's dad came to wake him up at 6:30, he found an empty bed. An hour later, the police found Jeff, about five and a half miles from the house, walking through a field on his way downtown to the bus station. As he was placing Jeff in the back of the patrol car, the officer asked, "Where were you thinking about going?" Jeff replied, "I don't know, I was gonna figure that out when I got to the bus station."
I love my boys. I love having all boys. They keep me out of my box and challenge me to laugh more, pray more, and plan for nothing going exactly as I hoped. Things usually go much better.
I have to read this book. It sounds like a refreshing take on what boys are actually like instead of how society labels them. I, too, love having a boy for some of those same reasons already. He surprises me often. How blessed you are to have four distinctly unique boys to grow with!
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