boys will be boys

boys will be boys idiom
One can expect boys to act childishly or misbehave, as in We told the kids not to eat in the living room, but when we got home there was a big mess there—oh well, boys will be boys. This term came from a Latin proverb, translated as “Children [boys] are children [boys] and do childish things.” In English it was first recorded in 1589.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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