Raising Boys - Unique Challenges (and Benefits)

I'm very much in favor of experiencing the trauma of raising young boys and forgoing the hormonal mess that is dealing with 13 year old hormones of girls. And sometimes I just have to smile about it.

For you see, back during Spring Break, my boys were hanging out with some friends who have a house over in the exclusive Manhattan Village Community. It's a place that is popular with celebrities because of the fairly successful locked-down gated community with guards and such. Not terribly giant houses, but quite secure if you should do a lot of traveling but want a place close to the studios here.

So during Spring Break, quite close to Easter, my two boys ended up doing an Easter Egg hunt over at Manhattan Village. That's where they were when I went to pick them up after work. I managed to get in (walking) and found them at a wonderfully fun event with a bouncy house, magician, tasty sandwiches, and lots of chocolate in eggs. They were totally sugarfied. Given that it was getting close to dinner time, I attempted to convince them that they needed to take a walk back to our car which I had parked outside the zone of gated-ness. Oddly, they agreed, happily carrying their stash of chocolate in cutely decorated bags along the path.

At this point, Alex was still in pull-ups, so all was well there. However, the change in the routine of the week had caused Will to have a few accidents the days prior. So, as we walked along the green path, the whiny words, "I haaave to go potty" came from Will. And, since, after four years of having kids, I haven't quite learned how to translate my sarcasm into kid-friendly advice and because I was tired of Will having accidents, I said, half serious, "Why don't' you just pee standing up by this bush." Fortunately Will rejected this idea.

Well, he rejected the idea until about 20 feet further along the path when we weren't near any bushes and he had to go potty even more. The idea had sunk in that he should drop his pants and pee on the grass.

I showed that I was a good parent by resisting the urge to snap a picture with my camera phone. And we continued the evening without an accident or citations related to indecent exposure in a fancy community. :)