Why I love having boys

No matter when you find out that you’re having a boy – at the ultrasound or at the birth – you immediately begin picturing what he and your future life will look like.  You may be excited about the prospect of having a son, but perhaps a little terrified.  So I’m here to tell you that in my opinion, life with boys is wonderful, and here are just a handful of reasons why.

Disclaimer the first:  I’m sure life with girls is equally fabulous, and almost every point I’ve made below could be rewritten to show how the opposite would also be great.  That’s the thing:  we can love and appreciate our boys without having anything negative to say about girls.

Disclaimer the second: I’m not here to comment on what boys are supposed to be like.  Some boys are rowdy and others are quiet.  Some boys are big movers and others are big talkers.  The differences among boys are bigger than the differences between boys as a group and girls as a group.  But there are some things that are true for almost all of those interesting little people filled with both Xs and Ys, and those are what I’m talking about here.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I can begin my list.

1.   I love blue.  This isn’t to say that the boys themselves will prefer blue, because Sebastian’s favorite color right now is pink.  It’s just to say that if YOU love blue, you will love having a baby boy because it is the easiest thing in the world to decorate his nursery or dress him in any shade of blue you like.  (When he becomes an opinionated preschooler, however, all bets are off.)

2.  People will assume your baby is a boy.  This isn’t fair to all of you parents of girls, but it’s the truth.  No one has EVER mistaken one of my boys for a girl, and it wasn’t because they always wore blue or onesies that said handsome.  It’s that people think short hair equals boy and guess what?  All babies have short hair!  Thus, you will escape the world of baby barrettes and headbands.  I used to think these were cute but a little silly due to the aforementioned lack of hair, but now I understand.  It’s because it’s tiresome to be nice when people constantly tell you your little girl is so cute and ask what his name is. (Yes, I’m raising a guilty hand here, too.)

3.  While we’re on the subject of hair, it is awesome that boys typically have short hair, because I am hopeless at making the time to even comb it much less trying to keep it out of their faces.  This is definitely one of those things about having girls that I think I might enjoy – ponytails, french braids – but the opposite is also true that I love not worrying about it.

4.  They will eventually pee standing up.  Not having to deal with public restroom seats on every outing for the next many years is very high on my list of things I think are great about having two boys.

5.  Speaking of restrooms, I love that when the four of us are out together, having boys means that their father automatically gets to deal with that errand.  Also pool locker rooms.  I get to wave goodbye to them and have at least five whole minutes to myself.  Excellent.

6.  Oh, and let’s not forget: less toilet paper.  It’s fabulous that boys don’t need toilet paper for every use of the toilet.  Of course this probably means that they take longer to figure out how to use it when it’s necessary, but on the whole I still think it’s pretty great to have any step to skip, especially when they’re first training.

7.  Finally, as the parent of a boy, there is pretty much no chance that you will escape having a very loud conversation about pe.nises in some very public place.  What, this strikes you as a negative?  No, no, it just makes for great stories, and in parenthood if you’re not laughing, you’re crying.  So you may as well have the conversation and laugh about it later with his father (who is obviously to blame for it, one way or another).

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list as my boys get older, but if you have a son, what is your favorite thing about having a boy?

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Postscript:  When I asked my husband what he liked about having boys, his answer was that they tend to get toys he likes to play with, too.  I had to agree.  Though our boys also have a play kitchen, a doll house, and Baby Blue, I bought those or asked for them.  Left to their own devices, people are more likely to buy us blocks or vehicles, which we all enjoy.  If we had a princess doll here, she’d have to drive the fire truck and build her castle out of MegaBlocks.  But, this doesn’t quite fit my second disclaimer, so you may well find that your playroom looks different from ours, and perhaps you won’t in fact learn the name of every construction vehicle there is (though I suspect you will)…

Second Postscript:  One of my friends commented on facebook about boys’ clothes.  I had to agree with her that another great thing about having boys is the higher likelihood that clothes they’re given to wear will be appropriate.  No string bikinis, no “pampered princess” shirts, no shorts so short they may as well be wearing underwear out in public.  And that is a huge relief to those of us who just don’t want that battle: with our kids or their well-meaning friends or relatives.