As we left our girls’ school talent show a few weeks ago, the auditorium door burst open and dozens of parents walked along the front of the school. All eyes were on a little boy “watering” one of the dwarf palm trees planted on the front lawn beside the school’s entrance.  

There were lots of stares and giggles as the young fellow proudly did his business. His mother nervously paced back and forth hoping he’d finish up and go back to playing Star Wars with the other boys on the lawn. But he just kept on going – and going – and going. I wanted to ask his mom, “What did that kid have to drink that day?” I didn’t know kids could even store that much liquid in their bladders. But I could tell she wasn’t exactly up for hosting a press conference following the event, so I would miss out on my chance to ask her my question in the Q & A session. By the time we got to our car, which was in sight of the tree, the little boy had finished his business. Through it all, he was oblivious to the audience he had drawn.

I smiled and laughed as I opened the car for my three daughters because I’ll never know the joy of having sons. Sure, someday I’ll have sons-in-law, but certainly it’s not the same as having your own. I don’t feel cheated as a parent to not raise a boy; instead I find myself a little intrigued by how different my life would be if we had just one boy. 

I forget how ”girlie” my house is until we have boys come over for a play dates. The boys are stunned when I tell the, that we don’t own a single Star Wars movie, or that we have no Bionicles. Instead the boys usually find a fairy wand and a Princess Sing-A-Long book and use them as a sword and a shield. I usually just try to buy off the boys with food because I figure that offering a Polly Pocket or throwing on the Taylor Swift karaoke would threaten their manhood. (And I hate to think that they’d go home and tell their parents that they played with Barbies at my house.) 

I doubt I’ll ever stand in line for Star Tours at Disneyland or spend much time playing Transformers with my daughters, but I don’t really feel like I’m missing out on much. It’s kind of nice having three girls. We didn’t have to redecorate any rooms, we can easily pass clothes down to the next child, we have every girl toy known to woman already, and my husband and I never did come up with a boy name that we both agreed on. I guess it was meant to be.

Questions: Enlighten me on life with sons. What is your favorite thing about raising a boy? What could you only have learned through having a son?