Don't let "he's a boy" or "he's a teenage boy" be an excuse

I was walking through the aisles of Walmart today, looking for sweet and sour sauce. (And I decided to go with Sweet Chili sauce instead, taken from the Asian Foods shelf. I think this is what Wendy's uses - a spicier version of sweet and sour - and I liked it. Anyway, two women whom I didn't know were talking to each other. One was telling the other, "I didn't get home until late, only to find that "he" hadn't eaten. Well, he's a boy. So I was up at 10 pm making him hamburger helper. Now, I didn't dare ask her how old her son was, but I got the idea that he was a teenager - i.e. someone fully capable of making himself a peanut butter sandwich or sticking a tv dinner in a microwave, but because he was a "boy", it hadn't occurred to him to do this. So she as his mom had to feed him at 10 pm at night, instead of telling him, jeez, kid, make yourself a sandwich next time. My nephew's dad is kind of the same way. Oh, the kid knows how to use a microwave - and leave all the wrappings of whatever food he's eating on the counter for mom to clean up, and the plate and glass and other crap of what he ate down in his basement "TV and computer room" for her to pick up - his sole chore to earn money is to take the dishes from the table where they eat (him, his mom and dad) to the counter, where his dad or mom will then proceed to do what's necessary to put them in the dishwasher. The stairway bannister that separates the living room area from the flight of stairs going down to the basement, is somewhat loose. Once I said, "These railings are loose. Can't you do something about that?" And my brother in law said, "No, and it's going to get looser, because we have a teen-aged boy in the house." That's what he always says. The garbage remains on the floor because "he's a teenaged boy." He gets into mischeif because "he's a teenage boy." Not that he gets into serious mischief - just unthinking stuff - like sitting around on his butt playing computer games while his mom humps in 6 bags worth og groceries... he's never been taught that it's polite to help out! Why am I ranting like this? Oh, to my point. The kid eats like a pig. All day long. Of course he rarely has an appetite for dinner, and since he's hungry after dinner he'll start snacking. But he never gains an ounce... because he has a fast metabolism. Most guys do have fast metabolisms, and they can stuff themselves until they're about 40 and never gain weight. But once that metabolism slows down...then the paunches start to develop. And while some women have fast metabolisms, most don't, and they have to work to keep their weight at its optimum point - work by watching what they eat, having only small desserts instead of gigantic desserts, and things of that nature. The story of our lives...