Boys are the best!

Children go through different phases of likes and dislikes during their growing up years, which are at times amusing, at times annoying, but almost all the times, quite entertaining! J  Abhay who'd once been mesmerized with girls, has now turned a mini-misogynist! “I hate girls” seems to be his new mantra and also with the other boys in his class. So much so that he insisted on a “no-girls” policy at his birthday party! I had to coax him into making concessions for the little sisters of some of his friends. When I nudge him about his mom and his grand mom being girls too, he haughtily declares that that he does not have a problem with “grown-up girls” and it is only “girls his age” whom he deems persona-non-grata! (How obliging!:) Anyway, not sure of how long will this phase  last, but  be sure to read this in your teens, Abhay…..and let’s see if you still feel the same way about girls your age!

Considering his newly developed distaste towards girls, I had to pick up “Boys are best!” by Manuela Olten, the minute my husband found it on the shelves of Hippocampus, Bangalore. A hilarious book ideal for boys who poke fun at girls and their obsession with dolls. Two young boys announce that boys are the best and girls are silly. According to them, girls spend all their time combing their dolls hair or changing their dolls’ clothes – off and on (as they watch their sister do the same!) As they snigger over how girls hold on to their teddy bear at bedtime and they almost pee in their pants at the thought of a ghost, one of the boys begins to feel nervous at mentioning of “ghosts”! Soon both are seen going to the bathroom and hopping onto their sister’s bed while at the same time borrowing her teddy for comfort, much to her amusement! Finally, the sister has a last laugh and finds boys to be silly! Needless to say, Abhay loved this book and kept repeating “Boys are best and girls are silly” and loved the part where the boys are pulling their pants off and on to demonstrate how girls change their dolls' clothes! A harmless book to have a hearty laugh over….especially if your little one is going through the  laugh-out-loud “I-hate-girls” phase! :-)