11 year olds wrestling all the time!

[Lemonfoxtrot]

My DS and his friends having a play date…

lately I’ve noticed they’ve started having wrestling matches/ play fights.

they just want to spend the time kicking the shit out of each other. All good natured and laughing, until someone gets hurt of course.

Is this normal??

Yep.

It's only normal if you accept/ condone it. All part of the 'boys will be boys' mentality. Personally I don't think it's acceptable and I didn't let my DS behave this way.

Very. It still happens occasionally with my 24 year olds. I'd never let it get out of hand though.

Nope. I wouldn’t accept that. DS1 is 11 and the worst they get to is duels with pool noodles in his best mate’s garden (frankly that’s not allowed at our house but not my house, not my rules).

Yep. Condoned and allowed here. Mine are teens and have done it all their lives. Depends on the people involved but we know 'stop' means stop instantly. They've learnt what is allowed and what isn't. No punches, etc, just literal wrestling to see who can overpower the other. It's always one son who wins over the other so it's a competition of good nature, waiting for the day the other son finally wins.

Yes completely normal.
If one is regularly crying and on the losing side then redirect to a different activity.
But yes, very normal.

My sisters and I did this with each other, our brother was far to delicate to engage.
It's not a problem if everyone is happy to play by the rules.

Thanks for your replies- I’m reluctant to break it up as they seem to be having fun, but I was brought up with lots of girls and find it completely alien! 😂

It’s almost like an acceptable means of physical contact for boys.

I totally get the ‘boys will be boys’ mentality and do try to bring up a metrosexual, but it almost seems ingrained…like puppies play fighting. It would just never have occurred to me to wrestle with my friends at 11! 😕

Ill let the wrestling carry on!