10 Tips for Raising Boys

Hi Im Gabriella, Mumma to two beautiful, wild and crazy boys! Luca 2.5 years and Arlo 3 months. As a boy mumma I have dealt with all the ups and downs that come along with having sons. If you are about to become a boy mum these tips are for you!

We all know children thrive off of routines and repetition, and this is something I have done from the day I bought my first son home. For boys this is especially important to do as things can get crazy quickly if you don't have your next plan set in place. I have always highly recommended creating a laminated routine picture chart so your partner and children can see what is coming up next, and it just makes your day go so much smoother.

I must admit, I do feel like I am not in the best mindset when my house isn't clean and tidy, but to be totally honest.. I can not afford a full time cleaner to pick up after my little cyclone child! So I have learnt to live with it throughout the day. When I say "Day" I mean, let your child pull out all those toys and make some memories, but just before bed.. WE TIDY UP! I have added this onto our bedtime routine chart so they know that this is something we do every single night so in the morning we can wake up refreshed and so is the house.

Okay when I say "Get used to loving baths" I don't mean relaxing in a nice bubble bath with candles lit and sipping on your favourite bubbly.. No, I mean get used to sitting next to the bathtub cleaning your child who thought it would be a great idea to cover themselves from head to toe in something that's not easy to get off! I've seen it all - sudocrem, permanent marker, food colouring, grease, poo and all the rest.

Get that nappy out, those wipes grabable and close your mouth! Okay maybe it's not that bad.. but it could be. If you have never changed a baby boy before, be prepared to be weed on. Any slight feeling of cold air or brush of a cold wipe and boom your baby is officially a human fire hydrant!

I've found with raising boys it's super important to learn their 'love language' and express it to them. My little boy's love language is 'quality time', so I ensure I am meeting his love language and filling his cup up. I make it a priority each day to just sit with him, no phones, no distractions and just making sure he is aware that I am there giving him my 100% full attention.

5 of the Different Love Languages are: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch. 

It is so important to teach your little boys respect from a young age. Since my son has turned two, I have found that I use the word 'respect' a lot. "Respect your Toys", "Respect my space" etc. Respect can be shown in so many ways and I feel like when we start adding this word into our day to day lives it will eventually sink in overtime. I strongly believe that the respect we try to teach our children, also needs to be instilled within us too.

This is a phrase I use every day with my son. It's okay to feel sad. It's okay to feel mad, It's okay to cry. As adults we have bad days where we don't feel like getting out of bed, or we just feel cranky or upset and this is seen as normal behaviour. But somewhere in between we have forgotten that our children are human too and have days where they go through these same emotions and it's called a 'tantrum' when really it's just developmentally normal. I will always encourage other mummas to let their boys 'feel' their big emotions, because let's be real.. Boys are sensitive and that is OKAY!

There will be crashes, falls and stunts that go wrong and all that I can say is "look the other way" and I mean it! I have found that whenever my son has had a fall or crash the first thing he will do is look up to see if I have seen what he did, and if I look and give him all of the attention he wants, out come the crocodile tears! I have witnessed my son crash that many times and go look up and think that no one saw it happen (when I actually did see it I just looked the other way) and got up and happily kept on playing. So next time this happens to you, try it and see if I am right ;)

Op shops will be your best friend once your boy starts walking. Boys love getting dirty so it's crucial to have separate drawers for both play clothes and nice clothes. I always grab the cheapest clothes I can find for him to play in because at the end of the day when he comes inside and takes off those clothes half of the time they need to go in the bin!

Your little ones are upset - go outside. Your little ones are cranky - Go outside. Your little ones are bored - go outside. I swear everything gets solved once you go outside and breathe in some fresh air. My number one tip for reducing meltdowns is to make sure you get out of the house 2-3 times a week, even if it's just to the beach, park, botanical gardens or a picnic. Somewhere so your boys can run around and burn some energy, because we all no.. Boys are full of it!

Written by Gabriella Collins

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Until next time x