The Supers

The Supers
Our growing superfamily

Thursday, September 2, 2010

T is for Testosterone

Random Marcus (aka Random Dave Jr) has been at it again. I won’t get into the gory details, but let’s just say that the last straw was when he tried to flush a sizable stuffed animal down the toilet. He seems completely not in control of his behaviour. We had some people over for dinner the other night and he couldn’t contain himself—he was positively vibrating. I keep taking him outside to ride his bike up and down the street, but sooner or later we have to come inside. Somebody has got to fold the laundry and make dinner!

I was totally at my wits’ end and was complaining about his behaviour to a friend of mine, also with a four-year-old boy, who mentioned that she had heard that at this age the testosterone level in boys doubles. This causes some major erratic and aggressive behaviour. Now, Marcus has not been aggressive, but erratic? Oh yes! And then some! I was interested in the theory but haven’t been able to find much online about it. I ordered a book from the library that was referenced, so we’ll see when it comes.

In the meantime, it’s amazing how a plausible explanation makes the random behaviours so much easier to deal with. Now that I can imagine that there is some biological imperative that makes Marcus dissect my hand soap into hundreds of tiny little nubs, it makes the behaviour that much easier to fathom. I’m still pissed off that I have to squidge the soap back together into one knobbly ball, but at least I know that he’s not doing it on purpose. Also, it helps me explain to HIM why he’s getting into so much trouble these days, and how we can work on it together. Now when his head is spinning and he can’t control his facial expressions I can pin him down and look him in the face and say, “See? You’re acting crazy because of the HORMONES!!!”

Four-year-olds. Who’d have thunk it?

1 comment:

  1. i'm going post happy tonight...love the bit about the soap...i currently have a remoulded lump in the tub...though V was the culprit!

    ReplyDelete