July 31st is our first day of school and I was so surprised that it was starting so early. I mean where did the summer go? When I was little we started the day after Labor Day. We had a good 3 months of summer fun and no other holidays except Christmas break. Now they get fall break, thanksgiving break, Christmas break, winter break and spring break. Whoa… that is just way too many breaks.

My youngest is 17 and heading into his senior year. So it is an exciting yet scary time for all of us. For one, he is my youngest and for two his senior year means his last year in high school. Which means, no more football games, no more helping him with homework, no more school awards ceremonies. I will never again have a kid in high school after he graduates.

I’ve been a mom for 23 years now and still have moments when I think I am not doing it right. My boys are 23, 18 and 17 right now, so they are all in a different stage of life. One about to graduate college, one just graduated high school (and doesn’t know if college is his thing) and the last one about to graduate high school.

Being a mom of 3 boys has made me think differently about everything. Here are some ways my thinking has been transformed over the year.

  • You can create a fort out of just about anything.
  • There are several, I mean several different super hero’s and none are alike and you can be a different one each day.
  • Jumping off the top of a bunk bed is a “flying in style” not falling or jumping.
  • When one child is into let’s say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, keep all the toys because they do make a come back.
  • You can’t have enough cars, swords, action figures or underwear.
  • When you leave all 3 boys home alone for any matter of time be prepared to come home to something broken, someone bleeding, or all the food gone. Or all of the above.
  • You really do have to remind someone to take a shower, put on deodorant and brush his teeth. You even to go beyond that to say with toothpaste? Or to say with soap?
  • Getting out of the house is much easier, they really don’t care how they look.
  • You really don’t need an actual restroom they pee just about anywhere.
  • Even if they were all raised together, in the same household, they are all completely different.
  • They will tell you the truth all the time unless it has to do with them, then it is I don’t know, or it wasn’t me.
  • They know, actually know, when you need a hug or kiss. (Maybe not once they are older but when they were small, man did they know.)
  • But the biggest is whatever you do they will still love you no matter what. And they love their mama in a way no one can imagine.

Being a mom of all boys has definitely changed the way I thought about being a mom. I always wanted a little girl but I am not sure I would be able to handle another DIVA in the house. Being a mom of all boys you get told “God Bless you” a lot, I never knew why, until they got older. I wouldn’t change being a mom of boys for anything in the world. Each one of my boys taught me something different and to this day they each have such different personalities it still blows my mind to think they all grew up together.

So, if you are a mom of all boys, enjoy each and every minute of it. One day you will blink and they will be grown, handsome, smart, men all taller than you. And you will think back to the day you were chasing them all around the house to take a nap, or to change out of the wet underwear, or to get back the broom that they have now turned into a lightsabor. Being a mom of all boys has transformed my life forever and I will tell anyone that being a mom of all boys is the greatest blessing from God. Enjoy these moments with them when they are young, you will cherish them forever.

By: Tina Torres, CEO, The Gratitude Specialist