March 31, 2005

Boys Will Be Boys

Well Spring has finally sprung here!! Yesterday was simply beautiful so Kevin and the boys took advantage of the weather. After we finished enough school work to keep the truant officers at bay, I let them go outside. Sometimes I just have to pick my battles with the whole outside thing. They have been cooped up in the house because of all the rain and for my own sanity it is best to let them run and scream and ride their bikes outside, as opposed to inside!! Ha-ha.

The neighborhood boys have a habit of gathering in front of our house and that comes with both positive and negative sides. Last summer I gave in to the whole keeping up with the Jones thing and bought the boys a bike ramp. The box should come with a warning saying, "This product is guaranteed to summon every boy in your neighborhood and surrounding areas. This product will also cause otherwise intelligent children to act like complete and utter morons."

Yesterday afternoon John, Jeremy and a whole mob of boys were gathered in the front of our home riding the ramp. There is one older boy, that we don't particularly care for, who comes down our street when school is out. He is in sixth grade but lacks social skills and by his own admission does not have any friends. He plays with the younger boys but he is still older than them and we really don't like his influence. We try to be nice to him because we don't think his home situation is the greatest and he really is very awkward. Because he is here either Kevin or I have to monitor the situation closely. He used to use what we like to call, adult language, but we have since put the kabosh on that!

I was putting Joe down for a nap during the ramp riding and when he was asleep I went outside to check on the kids. This boy had taken the top part off of the ramp to make it longer so he can jump over it instead of ride over it. On this particular occasion I see our neighbor's son and Jeremy getting ready to lie down between the ramp parts while "T" barrels down the hill preparing an Evil Knevel type move! I scream calmly direct them to not do this. I asked Jeremy why he would do that and he said, "T" said it would be fun. Yeah, fun for the person who does not have to have a bicycle surgically removed from their person!

I can pump these kids full of Latin, poetry, good literature and classical music and they will still be lured away by the temptation to lay under a ramp while somebody else jumps over them! I was lamenting to Kevin about this and trying to understand how boys could think danger remotely resembled fun. I told him you would never see my sister and I jumping over each other with our bikes and he simply said, "You're girls!" 'Nough said,honey!!

I will say this, boys do keep it interesting! :-)

6 comments:

Jersey Girl said...

Your words painted such a clear picture of those daredevils, my heart rate is up a bit too high. Whew! Glad you caught that act early. That couldn't have been an idea of my darling grandsons'?

Anonymous said...

I can so totally relate to that. My son just has no sense of the idea of "common sense" sometimes. The other day he was outside riding his bike in his friends driveway, and he just rode right out into the road without even looking. A lady in a big ole Suburban came inches from hitting him (Justin's fault-not hers). I like to have about had a heart attack right there and then. I don't think that that is something my daughter would have done.
I'm glad you were monitoring them outside. Who knows what might have happened.
-dawn

Randi said...

Last summer, my son summoned me outside to watch him do something. He proceeded to jump off of a 14 foot cliff-I didn't expect it at all! Of course, he got scraped up pretty good. When I asked him why he did it-he just said it looked fun!!!

I grew up with one sister, so this boy stuff is COMPLETELY new to me! I just hope we make it through childhood with only minor hurts!

Dy said...

Have you heard the song, "Chicks Dig It"? It's a country song that chronicles all the stupid, er, daring things this guy did from the age of 8, on up, often landing him in the ER or in hot water w/ the police. When asked why he did it, his response is invariably, "Because the chicks dig it."

Hmmm. OK. I'll take the daredevil stunts as long as they promise to just keep saying, "it looked like fun"! At least then we don't have to wrangle ulterior motives, right? And remembering that Zorak once broke his arm, falling from the back of a pickup, and *never*told*his*mother... I think I'll have enough on my plate as it is. LOL.

I'm glad you caught the act before it got started. That's scary!
Dy

Anonymous said...

Hi Friend! You have a great blog over here!
Please accept my compliments and wishes for your happiness and success!
If you have a moment, please take a look at my 1978 mobile traveler site.
Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

God bless you for what you have chosen to do for your children! I once home schooled too and know how much work it can be, but it is fun too. I'll keep you and your creative crew in my thoughts and in my prayers.