Everything I Know About Men I Learned From My Sons

Sara's two sons taught her many important lessons -- and some surprising ones -- about the true nature of the male mind.
by Sara Peyton



#4 Men really will rescue a damsel in distress

When Leason was 13, I persuaded him to get involved in his school play.I think he volunteered to work on lighting. That is until I got a call a few afternoons later from his drama teacher. She wanted to cast him as Bernardo in West Side Story.

"Do you think he'll say yes?" she asked anxiously. Only if you don't ask him, I replied. Tell him he must take the role because there's no one else, I coached. From my sons I learned the secret of appealing to the males' natural gallantry. Sure enough, when Leason arrived home he opened the door with a bang. "Bad news," he said with obvious pride. "I have to be in the play." By the way, he made a wonderful Bernardo.



#5 Boys really don't understand girls

When my boys each entered seventh grade, they settled down -- along with their other rowdy male pals. Even teachers who found their earlier boisterousness annoying began to like them. Especially because at this age, their cute, quiet, and polite female counterparts became nutty, hormone-induced drama queens. When my sons returned home from school, I heard daily reports of intense female hysteria -- crying and more crying. But if I asked my sons what actually happened, they were utterly and deeply clueless.

If I wanted to know, I talked to the girls or their mothers. The intricate complexities of pre-teen female culture -- the cliquishness, the intimate chats, unforgivable slights, and the like -- escaped my sons. They weren't all that interested. Of course, all that changed only few years later. Then, they had to play catch up. And they are still catching up. As is their father. As are most of the men I know.



#6 Guys (secretly) love to cuddle

When a boy figures out he's becoming a man, he starts pulling away from his mother. Cuddling on the couch becomes banned. Seemingly overnight a once snuggly pajama-clad tyke morphs into a video playing preteen pinning 'Keep Out' signs on the bedroom door.

Still, the grown man in your bed -- the father of your children -- no longer needs to prove his independence. He loved to cuddle as a toddler and probably wants to do it again with someone. That person might as well be you.