Of course, those are words from the popular old nursery rhyme. The original words were:

“What are little boys made of? ...

“snips of snails and puppy-dog tails ...

“that’s what little boys are made of.

“What are little girls made of?

“Sugar and spice, and everything nice

“That’s what little girls are made of.”

The “snips of snails” means little cut-up bits of snails, as in to “snip” with scissors. Pretty yucky stuff, huh? And there are variations: In England, the phrase is more commonly said to be “Slugs and snails, and puppy dogs’ tails.” Other common variations include “Snakes and snails,” “Spiders and snails,” and “Frogs and snails.” Seems like little boys are just not thought of as sweet, quiet and cuddly, and I guess they come by this estimation honestly and naturally because boys are fairly wild creatures.

I know this full well because I was once one of these squirmy, inquisitive, rowdy, undomesticated creatures, and I now have a wonderful, rough-’n-tumble tribe of handsome grandsons with whom, of late, I seem to be spending a lot of time. I also have a couple of very beautiful and sweet granddaughters whom I love dearly and whom I expect will stay “sugar and spice and everything nice.”

All children, girls and boys, need a lot of care and attention – loving discipline, instruction, leading and shaping – to turn them from the real and frightening possibility of their becoming self-centered monsters who only want to exploit the whole universe for their own selfish gratification. But most little girls seem to have an inborn intuition and deep knowledge that they will be the foremost and essential nurturers of the race. They are, generally, much more insightful, placid, sweet-natured and self-contained beings than their grubby, aggressive little counterparts.

Boys are, essentially, miniature warriors. They have confrontation in their minds, disruption in their eyes and chaos in their wake. They’ll pull things down, turn things over, and go over or through instead of around, just to see what happens. Even if you tell them the inevitable and unpleasant results of some ill-conceived plan or intention, as a rule they’ll still try it. They’re pragmatic, hard-nosed little rebels and mostly learn by feeling, smelling, tasting, doing and seeing – not hearing. They get cut and bruised. They also need an awful lot of love and affection.

So instructing boys is difficult, because getting and keeping their attention just ain’t easy! I’m sure that some of you remember these lines from the old “School Days” song that was written way back in the last century.

“School days, school days, dear old golden rule days ...

“Readin’ and ’ritin’ and ’rithmetic ...

“Taught to the tune of the hickory stick ...

“You were my queen in calico – I was your bashful barefoot beau ...

“And you wrote on my slate ‘I love you, so’ when we were a couple of kids.”

Well, guess who got the whacks from that hickory stick? Right! Those unruly, “snips and snails and puppy-dog tails,” boys, not the “sugar ’n spice and everything nice” girls in calico! But boys are tough. They took it, learned from it and became husbands, fathers and leaders filled with strength, morality and compassion!

Nowadays, perhaps more than ever, we need these determined, rough, magnificent little miracles called boys to grow into strong, loving, God-fearing men. And to appropriate and rearrange the lyrics of another popular old song: “Thank heaven for little boys, for without them what would little girls do?”

You must be logged in to comment.