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Boy Basics 101
A Survival Guide for Parenting Male Tweens
By Kendeyl Johansen
Preteen boys love to tease other family members. A little teasing is fine, but things can get ugly if they escalate. Tilley found a unique way to tame the teasing in her family. "I heard someplace that you should force your kids to play together as a consequence for not getting along, but I don't agree, because I think it teaches that playing together is a punishment and not a privilege," she says.
She couldn't think of a "natural consequence" for teasing until she decided on "toilet duty" – a natural consequence since "teasing" and "toilet" both start with T. "This has worked great for us," she says. "Toilet duty isn't nearly as fun for my kids as getting along."
Preteen problems usually don't last forever, so find the positive things about boys of this age and savor them. "My 10-year-old, Brandon, is old enough now that we can share fun, more intense activities, like going to a college or pro basketball game, but we also love having long chats about life just before he falls asleep," says Janie Sutton of Las Vegas, Nev. "Brandon will probably be off to college at 18, so my time with him is more than halfway over already. We try and enjoy our time together whenever we can!"