Teenage boys are great

[CrocsNotDocs]

They just are. They are like enormous Labrador puppies with gangly uncoordinated bodies and huge feet.

I love watching my son and his mates interact. They have this innate sense of fairness and decency and half the time they are little boys and the other half, something caught between boys and men. If you can surreptitiously listen to them, they will be big noting, exaggerating and bullshitting about all the great dangerous and fantastic things they will be doing until one of them looks at his enormous feet and reminds the others that they will have to ask their mum before partaking in whatever grand endeavour they have planned . Silence will follow in deference to the higher authority.

They smell and are kind and can lift incredibly heavy things. Their jokes are stupid and glorious and they laugh so loud. I love how their shoulders broaden overnight and they get hairy and awkward. I love how they are terrified of girls and then suddenly they aren’t.

They get a bad rap but the ones I know are just fab.

Agreed 😄. I have two and they are fabulous humans - and I adore their friends too. We’re very lucky 🥰❤️

I have one and he's great. Funny, kind, resourceful, loving. He has an astonishing brain for maths and physics, and can put flat pack furniture together in half the time of anyone I have ever met.

😍

I agree. Mine are grown now, but they were fabulous teenagers, and they are even better grown men. They're wonderful.

Mine is an academic scholarship winner but flat packs would be completely beyond him (and my DH). My DDs and I do them. This Farside cartoon sums DS up perfectly! He takes it in good humour too.

Awwww this was the thread I needed to see today. Mine can be challenging at times, but today they really rose to the occasion and have been helpful, charming, hilariously funny, grateful for gifts, and kind to grandparents. And also play-fighting like pups and whispering inappropriate jokes to each other.

I agree OP.
I saw a group of boys walking the other day (it's summer holidays here) and they get such a bad wrap because they're big and loud, but this group looked just like a nice group of boys.
I've got one teen and one pre teen boy and they're both so lovely.
thanks for a lovely post.

Mine has been helping his dementia-ridden grandma with her walkie wheeler and has been so attentive and kind. It fills my heart with joy but breaks it too, as he his the oldest grandchild and the only one who remembers grandma before dementia stole her from us. My Dds have only known her as the forgetful confused crying lady.

ETA I meant to quote @lifesrichpageant

Lucky you! Mine is ND with a video game addiction. He woke me up at 5 asking to have his phone. Not giving in. He has to wait until 10 cause he will be on it all day refusing to do anything else 😒...
I loved reading your text though @CrocsNotDocs . Nice to hear someone describing how sweet and funny teen boys can be. It made me think of my brother when younger..

I have 2 boys - a pre schooler and a baby and I can’t wait to see what they’re like when they’re older!!

It’s just lovely watching them grow. I have always found it a joy, not a sad thing.

I agree with you and I only have a girl. My friend has a boy and he’s been a really loyal friend to a girl he’s mates with. He’s 16 now but went through that really puppy stage, still is to a certain extent. My dd is also 16 yo and started having boy mates over about a year ago and they’re great. So funny and goofy and able to hold a conversation with me. A little more serious now they’re 16 and suddenly more interested in girls in a relationship kind of way.

My dd is going out with a boy in the year below, she’s 6th form and his mate came up to the car to say hello to me when I collected dd and did the whole Perry act on me from Harry Enfield. It was just adorable. He pulled his hood down and said ‘hello I’m X and I’m Y’s best mate. Idk if you remember me I came round your house.’ (It was about 2 months prior and a big group of kids). I was like yes I remember you and smiled… especially as my dd talks about you as she’s now mates with you and her bestie had her first kiss with you that day but missed that bit out lol… bless. He tries to be such a hard man in front of his mates and he tries to give off a very different persona. My nephew is almost 14 but young for his age so he will be starting soon…

I was speaking to my neighbours some time ago about how she’s intimidated by the older boys hanging at the park. I said oh that may have been (boy name). He’s fine. He’s 17. All of the boys around here are fine. Her girls are still at primary school, her eldest is year 6. I was just the same at dd’s age.

Yes exactly this. I was so proud of how great mine were yesterday. They had a pretty boring day with other peoples family but they were grateful for their gifts, polite to their hosts and lovely with their little cousins.

Mine is an academic scholarship winner but flat packs would be completely beyond him (and my DH). My DDs and I do them. This Farside cartoon sums DS up perfectly! He takes it in good humour too.

This is very similar to mine! Just started uni and very academic - but watching him trying to open a tin of bully beef was one of the funniest things I've ever seen!

I love the relationship teen boys have with each other. They take the mick out of their friends (in a nice way), but are very loyal and wouldn't tolerate anyone else saying anything like that to their friends. Girls don't interact in the same way - they get offended if their friends take the mick... Such interesting dynamics of it all.

Mine are 24 and 19 now and I still think they're in the awkward teenage phase sometimes! They'll
come out with something that I have to validate their feelings on or they'll push the boundaries just a little too far and they'll need 'the look'. But 9/10 they are my fav human beings! (Along with dp).

What a lovely thread. I have 2 teen boys and they are just so lovely and describing them as gangly uncoordinated and like labradors is the most accurate thing I've read about them 🤣 Yesterday they were wonderful, loved their presents, made sure everyone had drinks and whatever they needed, were on dishwasher duty and just made it so special. We are lucky 🩵

I completely agree. I’ve loved watching DS and his mates grow up. They are hilarious. We’ve known quite a few of them from kindy and it is amazing to see them turn into gorgeous young men about to head off to uni. The awkward teenage years, the huge appetites (first and second dinner was common in our house), first girlfriends, sports, the sudden growth spurts so that I now have to look up at them (and I’m not short). The ups & downs. All of it.

DS is great company, I love having a son.

What a wonderful post and incredibly accurate 😃.
Mine is 19 now and away at Uni, he is still lovely even if his favourite phrase is "I'm knackered" nowadays, he's still great company when he's not asleep 😁

I have a 15yo one and he is delightful 😍
Also incredibly bright but no common sense, he manages to inadvertently find himself in the most ridiculous situations, he's like a one-man sitcom 😁
I've always adored him, but this stage is giving my heart an extra little burst 🥰

Totally agree. Mine is 13, hugely overemotional (as he has been since age 2), very self-depricating, but absolutely gorgeous, with a brilliant cheeky sense of humour, amazing talent at photography, hugely intelligent and sensitive to others, loyal and loving. Taller than me (and I'm not short!) and still gives me a kiss every morning - love him, love him, love him!!

I agree . Two gorgeous teen boys in this house. Was just thinking how grateful I am for them . They're amazing 😍

They really are the best. I have two boy teenagers and two boys yet to be teenagers....

17yo DS is currently with his girlfriend in New York over Christmas. He is mature for his age, has a part time job, and just bought me earrings for Christmas as well as gifts for his three brothers and a gift for DH before he flew out to the US.

If I am sad he asks if I want a hug. My 14yo is very similar. They're brilliant boys❤️

I remember when my boys were that age. They were always bombing about the place, it was exhausting. But I've loved having them as teens. They are exactly as described here. Funny, interesting, helpful and kind.

I have an 8 year old DS who is such a joy, I think he’ll be a lovely teenager too. My nephew is now 21 and was pleasant and charming right through his teenage years, always pleased to see us and gave us hugs, “Hello Aunty Squidgemoon how are you?” None of the grunting you hear about. My next door neighbours have 2 boys now in their early 20s and they were both lovely teen boys too, always having gangs of friends over but always polite.

I work in a boys' school (girls in 6th form only). Since qualifying in 2002 I've almost entirely worked with teenage boys.
With occasional exceptions they are fabulous.
Our last Year 13 returned for their certificate tea before the holidays and they did indeed bound up to us like excited labradors to tell us all they'd been up to since August.

I totally agree 🥰

My DS is funny, helpful and loyal, and he is such a wonderful big brother to DD. What a lovely thread.