BOYS

I have 2 boys. Whilst I have (obviously) always known they were very different to girls I hadn't realised that they were not only a different gender but seemingly an entirely different species.

My boys are a nightmare at the moment and so are the boy chickens so either it's a male thing or I'm just really bad at child and chicken rearing! In the last month we have had fights, arguments and injuries from both the cockerels and the children. Matthew is currently banned from playing football at break or lunch at school as I cannot trust him not to be the cause of arguments and agro. Joe is just being a pain in the rear end.

Every time we spend time with their dad (aged 32), or my brothers (aged 21&22) and they behave on a par with my boys I am reminded that at the ages of 4 and 8 I still have many, many years of this ahead! I went away at the weekend to stay with a friend of mine and went out to a party with her. I visited a flat lived in by only men, a bachelor pad I suppose. While it wasn't as boyish as I would expect from an entirely male abode, you wouldn't find girls putting mirror tiles up in the shape of a space invader now would you?! I merely wondered why they were in such a strange pattern with so many gaps until the design was pointed out to me!

I've always said I would be happy whether I have more children or not. I have my 2 and that is (more than!) enough for me, but having only just reached 30 and not settled down yet I realise that my future may well take me to a place where more children come along. From an entirely selfish and somewhat lazy point of view I have always said I would rather have boys if I had any more children. I have all the 'boy' things and I know how they work. I'm not a particularly girly-girl and I'd struggle with things like plaiting hair (I rarely even brush mine...) and activities other than football. I'm coming to realise that regardless of my laziness, bringing a girl into my world full of boys would also be very unfair on her. I'm sure they'd dote on her but it wouldn't stop them farting in her face at every opportunity!

So yes, I love my boys even with all their male-ness, but it would be nice to have a break from the world of BOY just once in a while!