If my girls were pretending to nurse, it wouldn't be so bad. After all, I nursed mine til they were a year. But, I would be offended if I saw my son "nursing" a baby, I would not if he had a bottle (it can always be a bottle of "breast milk"). They don't have the "equipment" and I just don't think it's right. I think this kind of raising (in the article) may turn him into a "girly man", and I hate that. My boy will be raised to be a polite cowboy. He will be raised with respect and to say yes, ma'am/sir, no ma'am/sir. If someone ever called my boy a girl, we would be making an immediate trip to the barber shop (his hair won't get to that point anyway, not while under my roof). And I hope his clothes will remain to be nice jeans and a starched button up shirt or a decent t-shirt, not this baggy crap kids are wearing now (and if he does want that, I sure as heck ain't gonna buy it for him! He will have to use his own money). My boy will be raised to be the "strong, macho" type, as in never shirking from any job. He will be expected to help around the house by keeping his room clean, and he will be able to be a young man who can cook and clean for himself. But he will also be doing plenty of manual labor. He will be branding calves, he will be building fence and digging post holes, he will be learning to weld and participating in FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H and take Ag Classes in high school. Because this is our way of life, and this is how country boys should be raised.

And maybe I'm a hypocrit, but I will expect my girls to do all of the above as well. Just as boys need to know how to take care of a house, girls need to know manual labor and how to work, because a man may not always be there to take care of things. I am prepared to take care of my farm/ranch myself if something were to happen to my DH.

Things are different where I live. Maybe this artical is typical of the way city slickers or in those in the suburbs are raised, but not in my world.

I suppose that in the end, perhaps, the children in both the author's setting and mine may turn out the same. It's my means of getting there that I prefer.