My sons are blessed with an abundance of uncles — 4 on my side of the family, plus another 2 on hubby’s side.
Years ago, boys were raised in the company of men. As author Michael Gurian writes in The Minds of Boys, “it is worth remembering that throughout human history, our male ancestors had two or more men at their disposal during their upbringing, especially at and after puberty — the father and the master-tutor were the minimum. These men formed an inner circle of male care around the boy. There were also five to ten other significant males available throughout the boy’s adoloscence, forming an outer circle of male care.”
My boys’ “outer circle” has taught them:
- Investing and the stock market
- Star Wars
- Poker
They’ve also taught them, through example, to follow your dreams and do what you love.
Of course, they also taught my sons to say, “I do what I want!” and once convinced my oldest son he could fly.
The O Pine sounds an awful lot like my brothers. Check out what he has to say about uncle-ing here.
Then tell me: How have your boys benefited from having uncles?
6 Responses
Unfortunately no uncles here, but just wanted to say hi and thanks for posting on my “good thing happened” blog. 🙂
Greg gladly took credit for the flying thing…
BTW I nominated you for a blog award go to my blog to get it 🙂
http://www.wondrafulbaby.blogspot.com
Greg gladly took credit for the flying thing…
BTW I nominated you for a blog award go to my blog to get it 🙂
http://www.wondrafulbaby.blogspot.com
Our son has only had limited contact with his uncles. Except for a 2 year period when he was very young, we’ve never lived very close to them (and there’s only 2). We’ve been very fortunate to have other men in his life for him to be around and glean things from, including a young man that works with my husband, and who our son calls his older brother.
I’m beginning to realize how incredibly lucky we are to have so many great uncles, so close. Thanks, you guys!
I feel so VINDICATED that Heather admit GREG convinced Nathan he could fly. Tom Rules.