Different Ages, Different Stages

I love my ten-year-old son, but I want to smack him at times. He groaned when being asked to help his three-year-old brother out with simple tasks. He snatched toys right out of his brother’s hand. He threw a fit when being asked to help his seven-year-old brother with reading. When they played Minecraft together, he always wanted all the treasures and his younger brother had to give up. When his seven-year-old brother came across something he wanted for himself, he would leave his world so that his younger couldn’t get the treasure.

At school, however, he is sweet and helpful. I got nothing but compliments from his teachers for being a wonderful student and classmate. I just don’t get it. Why can’t he be like that at home? I hope this is just the ten-year-old stage and he’ll grow out of it. Even now, I can’t stand adults who think only about themselves. I do not want him to grow up that way as I have always tried to instill kindness, selflessness, and compassionate in him. I also constantly reminded him the important relationship with his brothers—especially when we (the parents) will no longer be with them.

My seven-year-old son is improving at school and at home. I have not received any complaints from his teachers since the first week of school. He is also making peace with his three-year-old brother. He makes his three-year-old brother wanting to join the big brothers at dinner table without the booster seat. He always wanted to please his older brother and willing to play with his older brother’s rule. He is also getting better at reading. He like me to read with him; therefore, it has been a good bonding time for us. My goal now is to get him to read on his own so I can move on to the three-year-old.

Speaking of the terrifying three, he is going through that mean and whiny stage. If he can’t get things his way, he would scream no matter where we were. Unfortunately, I have been down this road twice already; therefore, I pretty much zoned out the outside world as well and just let him deal with his own emotion. He picks up words so fast. The other day, he said to me, “Daddy, it is impossible for me to put on my seatbelt.” What? Impossible?

My one-year-old son is obviously the most adorable one right now. Everyone loves him. His three older brothers treat him like a doll. They just picked him up and threw him around. So far, he survived all the rough love with a smile on his face. I am sure he will start to change pretty soon.

I am kind of surprise that life isn’t as chaos as I would have imagined with four boys. Sure, it is noisy as heck, but we seem to be able to manage with lots of yelling and caffeine.