Average Crazy 4 Year Old Boys

November 12, 2012

I had a rare opportunity today to go to Drew’s basketball class without my partner in crime, a.k.a. Gabby. It was especially nice because it allowed for me to actually watch the class, cheer Drew on and take pictures. But I also came to a very interesting conclusion, not too far off of the evidence of conferences, that Drew isn’t much unlike other crazy four year old boys!

Don’t get me wrong, he was the only child to exclaim that his shoes smelled like diarrhea when stretching but his overall behavior was actually good compared to the other kids. When the coaches asked the boys to hug their basketballs and not dribble, there were several boys that didn’t listen resulting in the suspension of holding the ball. When the coaches gave instructions, there were several other boys that didn’t follow and had to sit down as a result. During neither of these incidents had my son, my trouble maker, done anything but actually listen and cooperate for the coaches!

This behavior does not even remotely trickle over to home. Despite several requests, he infrequently does what I ask until I am yelling or threatening. Despite repetition of instructions, he rarely follows the plan. Yet in an environment where there is some other person of authority, it appears that he listens!

I have said this before and I will say it again, this is the way I would prefer it to be given the option. However, I find this child that I hear about in conferences and watch at his basketball class to be completely unrecognizable to me! The overwhelming feeling from this basketball class is that I’m so thrilled to see that the difficulty listening, the nonstop fidgeting and feelings to run around like a crazy person are an age appropriate thing.

So many times in my parenting life I have wondered if I in fact have a harder circumstance with Drew or I am a less equipped parent. For awhile now (especially given some of the struggles we went through last year where Drew seemed to be the only student with these problems) I chalked it all up to Drew being a tough kid. I think that it still bears true but it also means that there are a lot of tough kids out there. And all those parents aren’t having nervous breakdowns by taking them to the grocery store or whatever encounter they have.

This is where the blog becomes about me, yet again. I need to find a place to go (internally), a method to both manage him and my own emotions when navigating these circumstances. There’s no denying he’s tough, but I’m learning that he’s a relatively average crazy boy. And perhaps that we are at the juncture where I can say his behavior is typical shows that I have worked hard to get him to this point. Or it could also mean that I’m a spazz that stresses out with things average crazy boys do. What do you think?

2 thoughts on “Average Crazy 4 Year Old Boys

  1. What u said a/b Drew being a tough kid but great outside the home sounds like what I think/say/post about my 4yo Braden! I’ve told my mom that teachers at his school have thanked me for whatever I do because he is such a good, caring boy etc – when, @ home, he can be such a “tester” – and she (a retired teacher) has said that it’s not how kids r @ home but OutSide of it (that is a true indication of their ~behavior). Hope we see u all soon.

    • I’m glad to hear I’m not alone with this! If only I could get a percentage of the cooperation at school. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to settle with the satisfaction that he behaves himself with others!

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