There are some things in life a mother should not have to do.

Like buy her son a jock strap.

It became evident this year that son is growing up. He's diving into the murky waters of puberty and after scores of arguments and lectures and "I didn't do it" and "NOTHING!!!" he'll emerge as a grown man somewhere down the road.

And it hit me yesterday when he got home from football practice and said, "Mom, I need a new cup. This one's too small."

I swallowed my "But you're just a baby!" comment and said we'd purchase another one.

Of course it followed, as he loves a good laugh, that he said, "Make sure it's an extra large!" (hardy har har...)

After much consideration I decided to ask sweetheart to take son to Dick's to get a new one. He didn't even blink an eye. Go to Dick's? Great! Sports stuff! Yippee!! He does come in handy for stuff like this--after all, I'm a girl! What do I know about jock straps except that they look really, really stupid on?

I explained to him that son would probably be more comfortable with him in buying such a personal item. And it's probably true. But it's also true that I wanted out of that particular situation--as a good shopper I'd probably be trying to get him to hold them up to check the fit and son would never speak to me again for the humiliation of it.

So thanks to sweetheart I can retain my motherly charm and not become son's worst nightmare. Since I'm sure I'll be a nightmare to him all through puberty, I'll take all the breaks I can get.