On Manliness

According to a highly scientific study conducted by Sperling's BestPlaces and sponsored by Combos Brand (those weird mystery cheese filled pretzel snacks), Nashville is America's Manliest City. In fact, it has been called the "mecca of manliness."

The statistics used to determine the ranking included the number of professional sports teams, the amount of salty snacks consumed, the frequency of monster truck rallies, and the number of people driving U.S.-made cars. Other key factors were the number of BBQ restaurants, sports bars, and home improvement/hardware stores and the popularity of hunting, fishing and NASCAR.

Thank you Combos, for securing Nashville's redneck ranking for years to come.

I find the list of criteria used in the study to be quite interesting. Is a love for ribs, owning a power screwdriver and driving a Chevy the new definition of manliness? Lord, I hope not.

After my son was born, I began to ponder what it really meant to be a man. How was I supposed to raise this child if I didn't know what made being a boy so special? I spent a lot of time talking with the hubby and found a few books on the subject.

As I began to formulate my definition of manliness, I can assure you that a love of NASCAR and pork rinds never entered my mind. My focus was more on the character traits that I wanted my boy to have. Things like courage, integrity, honesty, and perseverance.

Simply put, I wanted my boy to be the kind of man that would slay the dragon and rescue the princess. I wanted him to be a leader... adventurous... to stand up for the things he believes in... to take risks... I could go on.

Yes, I hope my boy grows up to be a kind, loving, compassionate, gentle and God-fearing man. Those are incredibly important characteristics, and as a girl, I find that they are much easier for me to teach. The trick is to foster the boy's tender side while being careful not to emasculate him.

I want to preserve that delightful wild side of my boy. And, gosh, does he have a wild side.

As a result, the hubby and I encourage our boy to be a boy. He climbs trees, plays in the creek, tortures insects by pulling off their legs, shoots his BB gun, digs trenches in the yard, and carves things with his pocket knife. Any injuries that have resulted from such manly behavior have done little to change my resolve.

I recently heard myself say, "Yes, I know you nearly sliced off your finger. But son, the time has come for you to go get your knife and whittle something. Now go outside and find something to hack up!"

This approach seems to be working so far. Thankfully, my manly hubby is actively involved in our boy's upbringing. It's good to know he has an amazing roll model right under our roof.