What attributes do you think fathers naturally teach their sons?

As you probably know I’m a single mother. This question comes from me obviously not wanting my son to miss out on aspects of development that he might do because he does not have his father around.

I don’t want this to become a debate about whether single parents should or should not exist..or whether they are ‘as good’ as the traditional married couple/ two parent families.

I want to know specifically what you think male parents bring to sons that females might not ‘naturally’ think about or seek to develop. I appreciate that this might include sweeping generalisations… but we do have to admit that men and women are intrinsically different.

An example: I don’t want Theo to be particularly aggressive (and he does seem to have a good deal of this in him already…) and so have tried to teach him about being gentle with things and people. However, I must be aware that there is a balance to be struck and perhaps he does need some of that fighting spirit instilled into him and nurtured… so that he can protect himself and others and have courage etc.

I feel that really I only stumbled across this idea and that perhaps this is one of those areas where traditionally the male would have dealt with.

So it got me thinking about what other things men might have to say about bringing up a son… and what I can learn from you guys…