At first I felt a sense of accomplishment. After 13 years of telling him to take a bath, he had finally started to do it on his own. It reminded me of my own youth. I thought back to the days of seventh grade when I first put on the Old Spice instead of pouring it on the ant hill in my backyard. Reality suddenly spoke up. My mother's nagging had nothing to do with my sudden transformation from Pig Pen to the pages of GQ magazine. It was a girl named Candy.

Without warning, my wife and I now have a pre-dating manchild in our midst. Nothing formal yet, just the early signs of the impending disaster to come.

My son has become very ambiguous about his exact whereabouts lately and he is constantly on the phone. When I actually get a chance to answer my own telephone, I get hung up on. Something about my voice seems to stop teenage girls dead in their tracks, like deer in headlights.

I know we should just get him a cell phone, but I like picking up the receiver when he's on the phone and telling him to hang up in my loudest, most annoyed Dad voice. It surprises the heck out of him and the kid he's talking to. Any parent will tell you, it's the little things that get you by.

I'm okay with the new phase though. Things are moving at a nice pace. Movies, the mall and constantly begging for money; I recognize it all, it's the circle of life. I'm just enjoying the relative peace before he starts asking to borrow the car. I guess the reason I'm so okay with this is completely sexist. I know I've gone out of my way to teach my sons how to respect women and how to keep their hands to themselves, so I'm feeling good about them joining the dating crowd.

My daughter is another matter completely. She may have to move to another country if she ever plans to date. This new period in our household has brought out a bit of a different reaction in my wife. I call it the "what does that girl want with my son?" reaction.

Even though I haven't begun to worry about who our son is dating, I assure my wife that she's being a good mother by having high standards for our son. I figure she can keep the Lolitas at bay so I can get busy building the tower our daughter will live in during high school and possibly college. Good thing Home Depot came to town.

When our son was younger, many of our friends would look at him and tell us that we were going to have trouble when he started dating. I used to just smile and say a silent prayer. Now that time has arrived and in reality it's no problem at all. In fact, so far it's been a benefit. He's willing to do more chores for spending money and he smells much better now. I say it's a win-win situation.

• Gerry Bigelow can be contacted at gerrybigelow@yahoo.com.