Boy Talk: Welcome to My Book

Tuesday August 17, 2010

The title of chapter five, Boy Talk, may cause some of you to scratch your heads. “Is there such a thing?” you may ask.

One of a boy mom’s most daunting tasks is to teach her sons to listen to others and to express themselves. Many boys aren’t particularly communicative, but I say, “Don’t give up!”

Think about it. If you’re the only female in the house, you set the standard when it comes to female communication. Is there a woman out there who has NOT experienced communication dilemmas in her marriage? (I think I hear a resounding, “No!”) As a boy mom, you have the opportunity to teach and model effective communication with your sons and prepare them for the future.

The benefits are immediate and long-term. As with much of parenting, the little things we do now pay off in big dividends in the future. Simple conversation about emotions when they’re young, continued as they grow, can make for strong lines of mother-son communication. You can’t buy into the “strong, silent type” myth when your son is younger and expect him to open up to you at sixteen. It just doesn’t happen.

This chapter focuses on brother-to-brother communication, too, which can make for strong family ties in the years to come. There are sections titled Early Talk, School Talk, and Teen Talk that are full of hints for moms of all age boys. One of my favorites is Table Talk, where you’ll read about the importance of the family meal – complete with ideas for the busy family, even the family with members on different schedules.

When you have a houseful of boys (or boys and girls, for that matter), it’s important to remember the need for one-on-one talk. There are times you just have to make time for one, alone.

And mothers of the “boys plus” household (with a daughter or two in the boy mix) will be interested in studies of family communication when sons and daughters are both present. This chapter looks at boys’ communication from many different angles and applies to ages across the board. No matter where you are in the spectrum of boy raising, Boy Talk will open your eyes to some new ideas.

Interested in reading about organization? That’s the subject of chapter six, The Big O’s – Order and Organization. My Thursday post will give you a quick preview of that chapter, so come on back.