If we've heard it once, its been a hundred times, "boys will be boys." We hear this from complete strangers and those near and dear to us. It seems this is the accepted belief about raising boys in America. Initially my response was, "Not my boys!"
Whether it's behavioral or academic, "boys will be boys" seems to me to be a sell out. Can we not expect our boys, soon to be young men, to represent? This applied to their academics as well, and our daily parenting - we had to be intentional. As a mother of twin boys, dismissal parenting was not the answer. I'll admit, I parenting can be a challenge. I am often amazed at the time and effort and the surprises that parenting brings.
So when I read this Wall Street Journal article by Thomas Spence, I fell in love.
Someone understood.
...we must "meet them where they are"—that is, pander to boys' untutored tastes.
"Boys will be boys" or "pandering to boys' untutored tastes."
Whether it's behavioral or academic, "boys will be boys" seems to me to be a sell out. Can we not expect our boys, soon to be young men, to represent? This applied to their academics as well, and our daily parenting - we had to be intentional. As a mother of twin boys, dismissal parenting was not the answer. I'll admit, I parenting can be a challenge. I am often amazed at the time and effort and the surprises that parenting brings.
So when I read this Wall Street Journal article by Thomas Spence, I fell in love.
Someone understood.
...we must "meet them where they are"—that is, pander to boys' untutored tastes.
"Boys will be boys" or "pandering to boys' untutored tastes."
"For elementary- and middle-school boys, that (meeting them where they are) means "books that exploit [their] love of bodily functions and gross-out humor." AP reported that one school librarian treats her pupils to "grossology" parties. "Just get 'em reading," she counsels cheerily. "Worry about what they're reading later."
The more venerable houses are just as willing to aim low. Penguin, which once used the slogan, "the library of every educated person," has its own "Gross Out" line for boys, including such new classics as "Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger."There certainly is no shortage of publishers ready to meet boys where they are. Scholastic has profitably catered to the gross-out market for years with its "Goosebumps" and "Captain Underpants" series. Its latest bestsellers are the "Butt Books," a series that began with "The Day My Butt Went Psycho." Wall Street Journal Boys Author Thomas Spence of Spence Publishing Company, Dallas.
I'll add "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" to the list. I do not see the need for our children to be 'educated' in the ways of negative peer pressure as part of their academics.
We don't. For us, not rewarding our sons with gaming videos and electronics actually is key to lack of dependance upon it. I've wondered are our boys missing out, until I read reminders like this from the same Author, Thomas Spence:
"I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?"
We don't.
What are your thoughts? Parenting styles can vary vastly for academics and in general. How do you balance it all?
Warmly, Carolina Mama
I'll add "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" to the list. I do not see the need for our children to be 'educated' in the ways of negative peer pressure as part of their academics.
We don't. For us, not rewarding our sons with gaming videos and electronics actually is key to lack of dependance upon it. I've wondered are our boys missing out, until I read reminders like this from the same Author, Thomas Spence:
"I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?"
We don't.
What are your thoughts? Parenting styles can vary vastly for academics and in general. How do you balance it all?
Warmly, Carolina Mama
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