I'm a wife, a mom, a friend, a daughter, a sister and a follower of Jesus who is learning how to love God and people better. Scroll down to take a look at some of my adventures!

11.06.2008

Raising Boys and Loving It!

I decided it was time for a parenting book, and although I’m not sure where I got it, it looked like a good one. Although I wanted a book from a Christian perspective, I didn’t want something with too much christianese. I also wanted a book that would give me a little more insight into raising boys (since I’m not a boy and don’t really remember much about how my parents raised my little brother).

The strengths of Raising Sons and Loving It are the focus on individuality of the child and the emphasis it put on helping boys learn how to express their emotions, particularly anger, in a healthy way. The authors, who are married and have 3 boys of their own, are quick to say that they haven’t done everything right, and in fact are still not doing everything right, but this is their contribution to other parents who are raising boys. It’s a conversation and not an end all to the topic.

The most interesting thing to me in this book was learning how boys and girls are different, even from the time they’re still forming in the womb. Some interesting things I learned:
- concerning brain structure, girls have a larger connection between the hemispheres, allowing them to access both side at the same time, while boys cannot, which makes it a bit harder for boys to learn to read written materials, as well as emotional expressions.
- Boys take in less sensory data, have a shorter attention span and use more space than girls while playing.
- The right side of the brain is better developed than girls’, which allows boys to do spatial tasks more easily, and it also allows them to focus on one task at a time really well.
- Boys have lower serotonin levels and higher testosterone, which causes them to be more aggressive and rowdy… which is why teachers and parents should not expect boys and girls to learn/behave the same in various situations. Creative and active play should be a key way in which boys are engaged in learning.

Anyway, I think this was helpful. It’ll be interesting to see how Asante turns out…his little personality is already beginning to develop and become more evident to jake and I. When trying to figure out his various traits (the provide little checklists/tests to help you figure out if your boy is introvert/extrovert, judging/perceiving, etc etc… I think as it looks right now, Asante is very much an extrovert and feeling, and is probably intuitive and perceptive. I am probably an introvert, feeling, judging and sensing, so we’re really different! It’ll be interesting to see how those differences play out as he gets older.

2 comments:

Denise said...

What I learned about raising boys is that they're not only different from girls, they're different from each other. ha. Gotta love 'em!

Jessica said...

how VERY interesting!!