Teenage Horseplay

What is the deal with boys and horseplay? If you do a google search for “teen boys horseplay” you get more than 8,000 hits of things like “Teen drowned after horseplay push” and “Student stabbed in apparent horseplay” or “Three Boy Scouts burned during horseplay.” Boys just cannot keep their hands to themselves. And their idea of a good time is smacking each other. I just don’t understand it.

At Disney World we tend to be standing around quite a bit. Even during this “off peak” time of year we still encounter some longish lines at some of the most popular rides. My 9-year-old daughter stands still while daydreaming, singing or talking to us. The boys wrestle. They poke each other. They kick each other. They spin around and bump in to the people behind us. Anything but stand still.

And then you know where the horseplay leads. Right in to real fighting. Name calling. Punching. And crying. Or maybe that’s just me crying.

I realize many boys aren’t wired to sit still like many girls, but do they have to roughhouse every single time? Can’t they ever just stand still? I think they might be completely incapable.

Of course, our biggest problem right now is (1) they are excited about being at Disney World and riding all these cool rides and seeing all these cool characters and not having to go to school. And (2) they are a wee bit tired because we are going to bed late and getting up early plus they are spending all day walking and standing.

I hope this means they sleep for two days straight…right through our drive home. At least a mom can dream.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.