What Are Little Boys Made Of?

What are little boys made of?


Snips and snails , and puppy dog tails,


That's what little boys are made of.

"What Are Little Boys Made Of…’’ is a nursery rhyme by the English poet Robert Southey that has its origin dating back to the early 19th-Century. 

This got me thinking about what my little boy is made of. 

Eating dirt! source

• A love of eating dirt (and anything off the floor). 

• An obsession with noisy transport (trucks, motorbikes, loud cars) 

• A fascination with dead things 

(a friend of mine recently told me about her six-year old son who ran into the kitchen where she was preparing dinner. “Mum, I need a knife!” he said excitedly. “First of all” she said, “I’m not going to give you a knife, you’re six. Secondly, WHY do you need a knife?” “I found a lizard!” he said. “Are you going to kill a lizard?” she asked, worried that her boy was going to turn into a monster. “No, mum, it’s already dead. I want to open it up and have a look inside!”)

• A propensity for creepy-crawlies 

(another friend’s three-year old son is too young to distinguish between pets and pests, she says. “We know if we are confronted with 15 minutes of silence, it is a clear indication that he is off in some corner of the house with his bug jar, trying to capture a moth or an ant”)

Why should we not quell their enthusiasm for these grisly curiosities and obsessions and sternly discourage them?

This is a good question, and one that parent’s of boys ask themselves a lot. I think we should be reluctant to quash any display of their individuality. He may grow up to be an entomologist or a researcher who discovers that the wings of cockroaches can cure cancer, and it could also just be a passing fancy that he outgrows. 

Either way, I think if a little boy wants to spread his wings, (as scaly and icky as they may be), eat dirt or pick off the legs of a dead spider, we should let him.


I'd LOVE to hear what your little boy, or girl, is made of. Please add your comment.