I had hoped my youngest son would eventually outgrow his fearless ways, you know figuring that it is normal with little life experiences when one is a toddler, for them to have a fearless personality. I was so dead wrong, my youngest son will be seven years old in August and he is still just as fearless as he always has been. Out of my three children this one boy is the first to tell you that he won’t pass up any dare and he will touch hot things, no matter how many times you explain “do not touch, it will burn you, like go to the hospital burn you” … it is as if he just has to prove to himself that he can do such insane things.
I recall a memory of me taking a cookie sheet out of the oven, looking at my son to tell him not to touch it. This little boy, at that time around age 5, looks up at me with this look of complete “bad ass” and puts a finger out, bam – touches the pan. The boy then looks at me with an evil grin and says “that was hot, but not that bad!” I was upset with him, really? No burns. No pain. Just a pure look of satisfaction upon his face for being some big bad boy who can handle putting his finger on a hot pan. There were other times he grabbed the pan, quickly, on purpose just to prove whatever his point was.
Other times you will find him climbing trees as high as possible. Banging his head against any hard surface, just one hard bang, all on a mission to show everyone he is a tough guy! I have asked others who are around this little man to see what their ideas are about my son’s personality; I mean banging your head on a brick wall? Looking at me with this prideful smile as if he had won some huge lump sum of money, all the while having a small red mark on his forehead? This doesn’t seem right.
The ultimate decision regarding what people think about this little boy is that he enjoys showing off, getting attention and being a comedian. The more attention he gets from people, the more he will do. This is going to be such an adventure when he becomes a teenager, I would say I hope he outgrows his fearless personality, but I have already wished that and no matter what life experiences he has had thus far – fearless seems to just be his personality type, also he takes fully after his Daddy. This boy is nearly the perfect combination of his Dad and my Dad … is it okay to close my eyes through the teen years when they come?
My son is 17. I can honestly tell you that raising girls is MUCH easier.
It is stories like this that make me happy I have girls. I couldn’t handle the recklessness! Let’s chat again during the teenage years and I may want to trade. đŸ™‚
My daughter has always been the cautious type, but it seems my son is growing up to be the fearless type too! He’s always leaping before he looks and not caring about the consequences!
Your son sounds like my nephews!! Boys can be so adventurous and keep you on your toes.