raising4boys.com » Milestones http://www.raising4boys.com parenting tips, tricks and commentary Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:20:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Books for Teaching Kids About Puberty, Sex, and Growing Up http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/07/02/books-for-teaching-kids-about-puberty-sex-and-growing-up/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/07/02/books-for-teaching-kids-about-puberty-sex-and-growing-up/#comments Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:16:56 +0000 dad http://www.raising4boys.com/?p=603 We’ve been meaning to have “the talk” with Son #1 for quite awhile now, but just haven’t gotten around to it. He’s ten years old, in between 4th and 5th grade, and quite curious about the birds and the bees.

Beyond sitting down and talking things through with him, we also wanted to get him some books to help satisfy his curiosity. Unfortunately, the pickings are pretty slim at our local library, so…

Now that we’re back from vacation and things are settling down, my lovely and talented wife and I spent some time last night perusing Amazon.com for suitable titles. As it turns out, there are a ton of books available on the subject, and it’s pretty hard to tell what’s good and what isn’t without being able to look through them. We picked through the reviews as best we could, wound up picking three that sounded pretty good and were targeted to kids his age.

» It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health

» What’s Going on Down There? Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask

» The American Medical Association Boy’s Guide to Becoming a Teen

If anyone out there has already been through this, we’d love to hear your recommendations. And, of course, we’ll be sure to post our thoughts on the books listed above after we’ve had a chance to pick through them.

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2008/07/02/books-for-teaching-kids-about-puberty-sex-and-growing-up/feed/ 5 Kindergarten Kid http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/08/13/kindergarten-kid/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/08/13/kindergarten-kid/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:13:45 +0000 mom http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/08/13/kindergarten-kid/ Today is your first day of school
I hold back tears as you get on the bus
Wearing your back pack and brand new shoes
With your hair all spiky with gel
You turn to smile
Shining eyes behind bifocals
Chubby cheeks with a dimple
Short legs climb the steps and take a seat
You’re in good hands with brothers there
I wave to you through the window but you don’t see
Your school journey begins
Another chapter for me
You are ready
I let go

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]]> http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/08/13/kindergarten-kid/feed/ 5 Potty Training Success (So Far) http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/02/20/potty-training-success-so-far/ http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/02/20/potty-training-success-so-far/#comments Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:07:24 +0000 mom http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/02/20/potty-training-success-so-far/ As if Son #4 needed another huge milestone to pass… He just moved out of his crib and gave up his pacifier, and then I started potty training him four days ago. He’s 27 months old, which is a little young for a boy, so I decided from the start that if he resisted at all, I would back off and wait a month or two. Fortunately, he has been totally compliant and enthusiastic.

He has his special little potty sitting on the bathroom floor, and the first day I set the kitchen timer as a reminder to put him on his potty frequently. Despite spending A LOT of time on his potty, he still had several accidents. The next few days were much more successful…

He started going pee-pee in the potty and only pooped his pants. Progress!!! One of his mistakes was partly my fault. He told me, “Poo-poo is coming!” and ran off down the hall. He was quiet for some time. Too quiet, perhaps, so I decided to check on him. Rather than finding him on his little potty as I expected, he was in his closet with a load in his “Finding Nemo” underpants. Next time I will follow him down the hall and personally set him on his potty!

The most amazing thing happened the first morning after we started this whole process. He came in to our room at 4:20 am. I was barely awake when I reached down and scooped him into bed with us. We snuggled closely and promptly fell back to sleep. About two hours later we woke up for the day. As I was reaching for him to set him on the floor I felt his rear end through his pajama pants. No diaper! I went into the boy’s bathroom and found his DRY diaper and a potty full of pee pee. He had awakened in the wee hours of the morning, taken off his diaper, gone to the bathroom, put his pajama pants back on and come looking for me. This was extraordinary! At this point I realized he was in it for the long haul.

My favorite approach, and one that has worked well in the past is bribery. Son #4 gets an M&M for each time he goes pee-pee in the potty and a Hot Wheel for each poo-poo. The first day he earned only one M&M. The second day he earned numerous M&M’s and a Hot Wheel. The last couple of days have been met with various amounts of success. He seems to have the pee-pee thing down but struggles with poo-poo. If my experience with his brothers are any indication, this isn’t unexpected.

Also of importance was that he went directly into underwear, not Pull-Ups. I’ve only put him in a Pull-Up when we were going to be out of the house for a while. As it turns out, this precaution was totally unnecessary… he went pee-pee in the potty at Target and Michael’s. I was thrilled and rather surprised that he wasn’t intimidated by the big potty.

Lastly, I sing a song for him each time he uses the potty successfully. It goes something like this…

“Hooray! Hooray! It’s a beautiful day! (Son #4) went pee-pee (or poo-poo) in the potty!” Repeat.

It sounds cheesy but he LOVES it. He smiles from ear to ear, claps his hands and jumps for joy. He positively oozes pride.

Of course, potty training is not always a straight road from start to finish. I’m wise enough to know by now that there may be setbacks. In the mean time, I’ll continue to encourage (bribe?) my son towards this important landmark.

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