I've learned numerous, important lessons on life, motherhood and men by being the mommy of a little boy...

1) Boys really can and will go to the bathroom anywhere. Some of them seem to really like going outside.

2) When little boys tell you they have to go to the bathroom "RIGHT NOW," they honestly mean it... They either can't hold or refuse to try to hold it like little girls can.

3) Boys can fake cry just as good as girls. My son actually practices his facial expressions in the mirror - like the sad, hopeless look designed to evoke sympathy and the scrunched up, tears are coming, "I'm really hurt" face, or the mean glare with his little cheeks puffed out as he grits his teeth determined not to smile...

4) It's true that boys hit harder than girls even when they're just playing around... I think it's a testosterone thing.

5) Leaving the toilet seat up is a habit males are born with. Most mommies will begin the battle to get them to put it down before they go to kindergarten. And many moms will still be in the battle with their sons when they graduate high school. It's a war we seldom win. My six year-old son rationalizes it like this: "Mommy you should feel lucky that I lift the seat up - Because if I didn't, when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and it's really dark, just think how mad you would be if I peed with the seat down..."

6) It doesn't matter whether you're four years-old or 40, if you're a girl who can play kickball as good as the boys, you are COOL.

7) Even though we carried our sons in our wombs for nine months and went through the excruciating pain of childbirth to bring these delightful little boys into the world, threatening these miniature men with the phrase -

"I brought you into this world and I can take you out..."

instills much more fear in them when their fathers (or other prominent male figure in their life) say it.

8) But the fact that WE were the ones who were pregnant and WE were the parent who actually gave birth to these wondrous baby males, does give us their loyalty, partiality and perhaps biased support in disputes with their fathers (or any man).

9) If you are a single mother of a little boy, he will not think you are incapable of doing the things that are traditionally "guy" things - like fishing, going to the races, playing in the mud, tossing baseball or football, working on your car etc...

(Unless you show him that you can't do stuff like that or you choose not to attempt activities conventionally associated with men.)

10) There is nothing in this world comparable to the way it makes a mommy feel to have the unconditional, pure, innocent love of her little boy.

Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2004) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine - A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more. Read it online at - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp