Welcome to Boyhood Tyler

Trying to figure out how to work this heavy duty Nerf gun.
Playing Star Wars with his younger brother Trevor. Good vs Evil. A must play for little boys.
With hands in their mouth they anxiously watch their first batman movie. its a lot different then Diego's adventure thats for sure.

So this past month I have realized something very important in my oldest son. That it is time to start manning up and experiencing boyhood to the fullest. It seems the past 5 years I have been able to get away with teaching him the most valued essentials to being a respectful noble little man. Ive kinda held him under my wing in a sense and raised him thus far to be very kind, soft spoken, respectful, loving, and gentle.
But I am soon realizing that those great essentials for life have to be somehow intertwined with the evils and bad in this world too. My sweet innocent little boy can no longer look at this world as sweet and innocent.I dont have a sweet little innocent toddler anymore, he is in the beginning stages of boyhood. there is always an opposite to everything. It has been really painful for me to let him go and watch him dive headfirst into boyhood. Time to loosen the ropes a bit and let him shine. Did I help build strong wings, did i teach him the basic skills to love always and respect his piers, Did i teach him that compassion always comes first before fighting? I sure hope so.
This new era for Tyler doesnt mean we will stop teaching and honoring those wonderful social skills but with school drawing nearer its time for him to "Man Up" in his little world and be more aware of the scary things out there. In his pretend play at home we have introduced the "Bad Guy" the "weapons" the opportunity to learn how to be a little more rough and tumble, but still soft . It has its challenges just as it did raising him up to be soft, but I hope in the near future to see a well rounded boy full of life and love but tough enough to play and mix well with his piers. Its important for a boy to be rough and tough, just as long as he always remembers that its just as cool to be kind and gentle.

Im realizing how much more different it is raising boys then girls. With girls I bet you can just nurture and carry on the soft gentle nature. But with boys, I as a Mother have the trick of shifting gears and allowing him to be rough and tough with soft edges. As long as this boy's hero continues to be his father, and his heart belongs to his Mother I think we as parents will have succeeded. Nothing in this world matters more to me than my dear sweet family. Nothing will distract me or alter my attention on giving my boys the best life I could possible give them. This is what I do....I am a MOTHER...and I LOVE it.