Illustration 1: THE SHIRT. Meet “The Shirt.” AKA “The Apple Festival t-shirt,” AKA “the Captain Applesauce t-shirt,” AKA “my summer uniform.” (My son’s title for it.) For about 4-6 years in his early life, my oldest insisted on wearing the same Superman shirt almost every day. My middle boy never did that, but my youngest…
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Boys Will Be Boys
The wadded up piece of paper shot across the music area right in front of me while we were kneeling for the Eucharistic Prayer. A minute later, Alex started snorting. I looked at him with a scowl developing, and he whispered, “Was that Michael’s nametag?” And I realized: yes. Why, yes, it was. My kid…
Read MoreMichael Mayhem Graduates Preschool
Michael, with his toy guitar: “This next song is called “Starlight Can Never Destroy A Death Star So I will Use My Laser.” I went to his end-of-year celebration at his preschool yesterday, which consisted mostly of him attacking me at frequent intervals with flying leaps and fierce hugs interspersed with little girls coming around…
Read MoreWhen you go visit the farm with boys…
When you go visit the farm with boys, you just never know what you might find waiting in the driver’s seat when it’s time to go home.
Read MoreA Random Sampling of the Wanton Destruction Unleashed by Boys
Can YOUR kids crack a countertop with nothing but a toothbrush?
Read MoreThe Thing About Boys…
The thing about boys is that they’re confusing. Like my laundry pile. It makes no sense. On Friday of one week I fold six loads of laundry (I got behind. So sue me), and nine days later, on a Sunday afternoon, I do the next three. And if the laundry pile is to be believed,…
Read MoreMore Proof That Boys Are Just Different
Boys Have Drama, Too
Let no one, me especially, claim that boys come without the drama attached to raising girls. Every child loves his first grade teacher. It’s an unspoken rule, right? You must be hopelessly, gaga-eyed in love with your first grade teacher. So when your first grade teacher gives you a bag full of gummy worms on…
Read MoreThe Awesome And Terrible Responsibility of Raising Boys
At present, the web is a hornet’s nest of outrage over the light sentence given to the swimmer convicted of rape—and his father’s response—and his victim’s lengthy, no-punches-pulled response to her attacker. And all of this makes me think about myself as a parent, and what this means about my particular responsibility as a parent…
Read MoreNativity Action Hero
On the docket for today: More fodder for the “boys are just different” grist mill. The other day I heard Nicholas playing with the nativity set. Someone was talking to “Dad.” This is what we found long past bedtime that night: Why yes, in fact Mary and Joseph are entertaining “a car, a boat, a…
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Kathleen M. Basi 