To think life will get harder with boys

[notnagging]

I have 5. I feel like the odd one out. They are currently playing monopoly with their dad. I asked that they were in bed by 9 in prep for the school run next week. If I say anything now it will look like I'm spoiling their fun. I feel like the older they get the more I'll get left out. I do alot with them & appreciate they're dad being so hands on but I can't help feeling increasingly left out.

people are bonkers, do some people really think having a teenage girl = loads of mummy-daughter shopping trips and double manicures??? WTF I couldn't bear my mother from about 12yrs to about 24yrs! I actually couldn't bear to even breath the same air as her! Menapause + female teenager hormones does not make for girly chats and bonding!!! Got on much better with my dad as a teenager!

I've got a somewhat - ahem - gender-fluid boy and a pissy pink girly girl.
The thought of schlepping around girly shops with either of them gives me the shits!
Just join in the Monopoly and stop genderising it! Make it a logistical, logical forward planning thing. "Right, guys, up early tomorrow, let's wrap this up in ten......"

Do get a hetty, I say good morning to her and she doesn't scratch her arse or grunt something about cheerios before turning the news over to power Ben thunder turtles.

Ilovesalad I never did that with my mum either. We did not get on still don't but I do miss having another female in the house. I probably would hate doing all of that in reality!

I think I'm getting a bit ott on pink mrskeith. Dh bought me a big pink fluffy dressing gown for Christmas which I love. He commented that I would've put that in the bin a few years ago

So will you AND your husband be following through on the early morning tomorrow?

Yes he is always up early in the mornings & luckily does most of the school runs. They will definitely be going to bed early tmw as he is going out tmw night!

I think the problem is that the DH just likes the stuff the boys do.

They all enjoy getting wet and muddy and running around. DH finds making a train track to run around the house or a massive lego city a challenge.

They like the same films, for example raiders of the lost arc. He enjoys playing on the PS with them, something which I have never had any desire to do.

I hate all of the above. I can imagine I might have enjoyed playing with dolls more. I am the odd one out. Don't get me wrong we do a lot of family things and are close but thats just how it goes.

I know a lovely lady with 2 adult sons who said the teenage years when they and her husband really bonded over football were very lonely.

I actually did do a lot with my mum as a teenager. I enjoyed her company and going for lunch and coffee.

I now have a lovely pink bedroom though!

I do agree with pom bear that girls can be a lot harder! I have one girl and three boys. The girl is the one that causes the most stress.

You can see other women for the girly things. I find that whatever i do with the kids is determined by their interests anyway, and I'm better finding friends to do the actual things I want to do with.

I think it's sometimes better too, jsut to have individual 1:1 times with the kids and really bond with them that way, especially with a larger family. I go to rugby matches with my oldest son, we've both really got into that and support a team. I've done a foodie weekend away with my daughter, and we cook together a lot. My youngest son loves music, and I help him practice his violin, and take him to concerts. His twin loves cycling, and we do a yearly 10 mile bike ride together, and cycle to the supermarket at weekends when we need shopping.

I don't feel left out with the boys at all, because I don't really see any of their interests being totally gender specific. I can't stand football, but they can do that with their dad, and I take them to football training sessions in the holidays and bugger off for a coffee in peace. But I do ohter stuff with them, so def not left out.

I do make sure we have alot of 1:1 time. It is important in a big family especially with twins. We have a house big enough for them to have their own space as well which makes a big difference. I'm still trying to persuade my dh to convert to pink for the bedroom
But we did all play monopoly as promised today

I've been thinking about you today, notnagging.

My DH can have the same tendency to let things slide/do stuff for an easy life which leaves me being 'bad cop' which I at times resent. And yes, sometimes I do feel I have 5 boys rather than the 4 child-sized ones .

However, I don't usually feel left out - I actually enjoy being left alone when, for once, they are all doing something testosterony IYKWIM.
I did not despise my mother as such when younger, just had little in common with her; we are v different personalities. I am/was much more similar to my dad, so got on better with him, even when we were fighting over what times I had to be home at.

And I still despise pink - not so much as a colour, there are nice pinks, but for its inexcapability and meh-ness . Shoes however is another matter... but then again I obsessed about them even before I ever had children.

Well done, for playing Monopoly together today. Hope you won!

Thank you very much Pacific. I do love my peace & quiet sometimes. Motherhood is challenging regardless isn't it?