My son is now 15. When he was 7, he liked to put on my pantyhose, stretch them over his body, and he said they were soft and felt good. He liked to play with his big sister's makeup and put on mascara and paint his nails until he was about 11 years old. He was horrible at sports (though we had a basketball net in the driveway and he loved to play that, but wasn't good at it) and had decided to quit the soccer team, because he was tired of being made fun of.

He was teased a lot. In fourth grade and again in sixth grade, some of the kids called him a sissy and said he was gay. They also called him a mama's boy.

It's tough when boys are younger.

However, at 15 now....

He's got the deepest voice of all his male friends, the little girls love his sensitive side, and he's stopped playing with makeup and pantyhose.

Here's the deal... I never made a big deal out of those things, like you say, no stereotypes. Yes, he was teased sometimes. Yes, it hurt. But I was there for him and open to talking about it. I explained to him that all of our action have consequences, some good, some not so good, and some downright wrong and mean. People calling him gay and sissy and mama's boy were doing so in ugly ways, and he had choices: 1) Put up with it and get depressed or angry 2) Stand up for himself and do what he wants and not let them bother him or 3) choose to change the behavior that makes them make fun of him in public, but do what he wants in private and lastly 4) be patient and wait until he finds good friends who feel and act and like the same things he does.

And my son chose to do a little of each of these things, depending on the situation.

Now, at 15, he has a core group of friends who understand and 'get' him, he's still more sensitive than most boys I know but he's not so sensitive as he once was, and he is able to discover who he really is.

I support him in that.

It took me years to realize there was nothing wrong with me, but that I was just surrounding myself with the wrong people. I was able to teach that to my son and though there were some tough years for him (pre-teen and jr. high times) we came through them, and he's a happy and well-adjusted teenager on the other side.

Your son will get through them too - just stay true to what you believe and let him be himself, be there for him when he's hurting because someone doesn't understand him, and know that he will eventually find a core group of folks who 'get' him.

Lastly - though I disagree with EVERYTHING else the person said in the refuted fact I made to the other poster, consider martial arts. If you find the right coach for it, it's all about raising self esteem, controlling yourself and dealing with anger and frustration (which he might start feeling if he's picked on regularly), and also gives one the self confidence to know they can defend themselves but also know they don't have to.

Be careful to choose the right program though - some of them actually teach 'fighting' and that's not what martial arts are about. My son really loves them, and it's good exercise and your son might just make a friend through there who is experiencing similar issues.

Take heart.... the pre-teen and teen years don't last forever and you're raising a boy who is going to be a great MAN!