One evening last summer, when I asked my 14- year- old son, Ray，for help with dinner, his response(回答)shocked me. "What's a colander(漏勺)?" he asked. I could only blame 1. In the family, nobody else went into the kitchen except me. But that night, as I2to him that a colander is the thing with holes in it，I wondered what else I hadn't3Ray for.

    As parents，while we focus on our sons' confidence and character，we perhaps don't always consider that we are4raising someone's future roommates，boyfriends，husbands，or fathers5I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course. I was 6to find that he didn't say no. For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine.

    I knew that he would rather have been playing basketball with friends than7to mend socks with his mother，but in fact he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. "I appreciate(感激)what you do8a mom," he told me one day. Ray now realizes there's9masculine(男子气概的)about being helpless.

    Now，not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family. That's 10I call a man. I'm glad that I prepared so great a present for my future daughter in-law.