Dinosaurs and Tu Tu's

Boys are Different Than Girls

"We badly need to raise our boys more like our girls." G. Steinham

Whaat?? ….This quote was put up on the board this week in class.  I believe this quote to be very UNTRUE!  Boys and girls are built differently and it was meant to be that way.

 I learned in class that males have tendencies to be more aggressive, be task oriented and also spatially oriented.  Males also have more segmented brains meaning, they think about one thing at a time. Females have different tendencies than males.  Some of female’s tendencies are more compassion and sensitivity, they are more relationship oriented and they are more likely to have a connected brain meaning they link events together. 

There are male tendencies and also female tendencies but this doesn’t mean that every male is very aggressive and every female is very sensitive.  Sensitivity is just most common among females and aggression among males.  These different tendencies play a part in the gender roles that a man and a woman have.  Males typically play a role in the family as to provide, protect, and provide while females typically play a role to nurture, cook and care for the children.  

Does that mean boys should never play with dolls or like the color pink? Even when they are little? Not necessarily.  When boys are little they explore.  They may have sisters that play with dolls and they might join in.  This is not a concern of mine. In my opinion if they play with dolls when they are little, that doesn’t mean they will grow up and become more feminine or less manly. They probably will grow out of it. This does not however mean I will give my child a Barbie for Christmas if he doesn’t ask for it.  If he wants to play with dolls, that’s fine but I will not try and persuade him to play with girl things if he is not interested. 

The discussion we had this week about gender roles was very fascinating.  We each have a role or a part to play in society and in the family.  What is yours?