His Mother's Son

re: His Mother's Son

barbara — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 15:02:35 GMT

awesome, awesome post.

re: His Mother's Son

LogicalMama — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:55:13 GMT

My sister in law said, NOT A WORD, until she was four years old. The first thing she said: "Can I have a glass of water, please? I'm so thirsty." Clear as day. Honest to God!

re: His Mother's Son

dei — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:49:22 GMT

Wonderful news :) The others have said it better than I can. I hope my children, whenever they come along, are as strong-willed and independent.

re: His Mother's Son

Alex Karan — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:38:54 GMT

A question. Are there times when, as a parent, you have to get your son to do something he does not want to do? (or to stop doing something he wants to do) What do you do on those occasions?

re: His Mother's Son

Suzanne — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 03:45:55 GMT

Don't forget that with a toddler, you may have to seize him and get him out of a dangerous situation if he won't listen. Redirect, redirect, redirect!

re: His Mother's Son

yuri — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:43:24 GMT

This is just like me and my son. Let me tell you, Montessori school has been a god send for us. And the particular Montessori school that my son attends in Austin has great teachers who totally go along with my son's idiosyncracies. Actually, at 5 years old, his favorite past time is inventing games and his teachers have incorporated some of the games into the class. I love watching him to devise his own strategies for exploring and dealing with the world. He never exects anyone else to do things the same way and I think he's honestly baffled when people expect him to do things in thier own specific way. My parents thought that I was a pain. I think my son is a joy. That said, I have tried to explain to him that he will need to learn other people's ways of doing some things when he goes to public school in a year. But I've tried to make learning different points of view and methods fun for him. And I will never discourage him from also exploring his own point of view, in his own way, and in his own time.

Also, I've read your blog before. I wanted you to know that my boy was also a late talker and I was a worried mom who dreaded pushing him into unnecessary therapy. At a little over 3 he finally started speaking - in full sentances about complicated and abstract ideas, Far above the level of his peers. He was really hard to understand until age 5 (and some people still don't understand him). Anyway, all of his teachers and doctors agree that he is an extremely intelligent, creative, and confidant child. I truely think that his late talking was just a part of his individuality. I'm just sharing this story because I'm always comforted to know that someone has walked in my shoes and that things turned out well.

re: His Mother's Son

GirlsGoneChild — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:20:11 GMT

Totally. Payback. Payback. Payback.

re: His Mother's Son

marissa — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:25:22 GMT

Your parents will really enjoy watching you manage this independant, willful little beauty. At least that is what mine have told me.

What goes around...

re: His Mother's Son

Kelly — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:54:58 GMT

I have been thinking about you guys a lot the last few weeks and I am so glad to hear that Archer is ok - better than ok. Sounds like he is great and you are in for a challenging but fun ride as your wonderful little boy grows.

Kelly

re: His Mother's Son

Jenny London — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:51:23 GMT

I love your poetic interpretation of Archer's non conformism. It's how I see my son's Roman, who at 22 months, refuses to talk (he can), or do anything he is told to do that he doesn't want to do. He just stands there laughing at my stupid requests until i realise I'm asking something stupid (like, 'sit down' because he's standing on the table - why shouldn't he stand on the table?), and give up laughing too. The problem is his nursery does see it as a problem. Because they can't tick all their developmental boxes. And I worry that at school he'll be labelled a troublemaker, who isn't worth bothering with.

Like you GGC, I managed to say 'f you' at school without losing my A-grades, but sometimes even though I'm a successful writer too, I think the path of least resistence (conformism) may have been more rewarding in some ways. Because I do now believe you can only change something successfully from within...

re: His Mother's Son

Heather — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:15:48 GMT

From the mom of one stubborn non-conformist son to another, I hear ya. Loud. And clear.

I've been coming back to reread this post at the other blog just to get re-inspired.

As far as there being nothing wrong with conforming...I suppose that depends on what you are being told to conform to. Personally I see too much insistence on conforming to the things you should not conform to.

Beat that drum Archer!

re: His Mother's Son

Sarah — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:34:59 GMT

I'm glad to hear that Archer is alright, too.

As for conformity - I wouldn't say that it is the ONLY way to succeed, but to be fair it is ONE way that some people have "succeeded" (and to be fair, "success" is a very relative term). The great leaders of the world haven't all been revolutionaries or anything, and some were well-known fans of social conformation and following the leaders and today we view what they contributed to our world as positive. I don't think there's anything wrong with marching to your own drum and I can definitely see how for some people that is the preferable route - but I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is anything wrong with conforming either. There are just too many people in this world to make a blanket statement about any of them.

re: His Mother's Son

pqbon — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:45:00 GMT

I'm very glad to hear that Archer is alright.