I don’t know.  You see, I’ve never raised boys before so I don’t have much to compare with.  I once had a male hamster who was cuddly and not aggressive at all, his name was Clam Chowder and he lived in our college dorms.  Incidentally, that’s a story that has no place on this blog but I’m sure the power of social media will expunge it from the depths of my collegiate record.  I digress.

So yesterday I picked up Coop from his daycare class and his teacher gave me this report.  “Let me start by saying that Cooper is an Angel.”  STOP!  That’s the “sure you can have the loan, let’s talk interest rates.” “Cooper, I’ve noticed,” she continued somewhat reservedly, “Well, Cooper was being picked on by some of his friends and, well, Cooper isn’t responding with an equal and appropriate level of force, I’ve been trying to tell all the kids to to use their “nice hands.”  Not shocked, I pressed for a few details.  I wanted to know what happened.  “Well, one of the little boys pushed Cooper on the shoulder and, well, he sort of elbowed him in a body check to the chest manner.”  “YES!,” I thought to myself, “My boy isn’t going to get pushed around!”

So, today, I pick up Cooper and the news hits.  “Cooper had a difficult day using his “nice hands” and we’ve really stressed that he can’t hit his friends.”  HIT HIS FRIENDS!  Wait, now he’s the bully!!!!

So, here’s the deal.  I don’t want to raise a pushover.  I don’t want to raise someone straight out of Bone Thugs and Harmony (umm, wait, DMX might be better.)  It might’ve been my mother who gave me the best advice in this situation and now that I think about it, it might be the angle I need to take.  She’d tell me all the time, “It’s always the guy who throws the second punch that gets in trouble so make sure the first one counts.”  But, I think it might be better yet to follow a combination Jesus Christ/Jim Belushi approach and teach the boys to turn the other cheek… and always remember, the Good Lord gave you four cheeks and all four can be kissed 🙂  Oh, raising these boys is fun!