Boys, boys, boys

We have had a wonderful, fun-filled summer this year. The summer has been full of lots of time together at weddings, amusement parks, trips to grandmas, fairs, the zoo, and many other family activities. However, as summer is coming to a close my boys, Noah age 10 and Michael age 7, are getting antsy.

The last week or so the boys have been fighting non-stop. No matter what we do or where we go they seem to be always picking on each other. I am forever hearing a chorus of..."He's touching me!", "No, he hit me!", "Now he's kicking me!" These cries are usually followed by a conversation over who started it and why the other needs punished. A very frustrating situation for a mom.

In these moments I often want to pull out my hair and scream back at them. And well, let's be honest there are times I do lose it. Of course, that leads to mommy apologizing and that is a whole different post. However, I have been taking this time in the last week to share a verse with my boys regarding pointing out their brother's wrong doings. The verse is:

Matthew 7:3-4
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

This is a big concept for them to grasp. I have seen a difference in how they react when the 'who started it' conversations begin. Although, my concern for how they are treating each other remains. So, now they are working on their own 'planks', but still fighting. Just as I am beginning to think they might rip each other apart they surprise me.

Last evening we took the boys to Chuck-E-Cheese for an end of summer splurge. Expecting them to fight over how many tokens each other had I was all prepared. I had the verse we had been talking about on my tongue, along with a few others, and was prepared for the worst. So, the evening of video games began and to my surprise the boys were...wait for it...helping each other out and sharing. Gasp! Can it be!

Yes, they were working together. As they were walking around playing games Michael dropped his cup of tokens. (Tragedy) Noah helped him pick them up and offered to carry a few tokens for Michael in his pocket. (Note: Always make sure they have pockets when going to Chuck-E-Cheese) The rest of the evening Noah made sure he knew where Michael was, and kept checking to see if he was out of tokens. If Michael needed a token and Noah was playing a game he would wait patiently for Noah to finish before asking for a token. I was so happy to see them getting along so well.

I am beginning to realize that fighting is something that boys do. The picking on each other is not going to stop. (No matter how crazy it makes me!) But I can see that they are learning to think of others and can be kind to each other.