Happy Valentine's Day!
In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to rerun a post I did several years ago about a Valentine party I went to when Wally was in 3rd grade. It was one of a series of posts of observations about different behaviors between boys and girls. I enjoy the stories involved, so I think I'll run the series again. Here's the first installment.
Boys vs. Girls--Wally's Valentine Party
Boys vs. Girls—You Choose
Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess, who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.
Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess, who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.
Today's Story
The Event: Wally's Third Grade Valentine Party
The Event: Wally's Third Grade Valentine Party
The Scene: The kids were seated around tables and had naturally grouped themselves into two groups with all boys on one side and all girls on the other side.
The Action: One group was carefully reading each Valentine and talking about who liked whom. The other group was seeing how many Red Hot cinnamon candies they could stuff in their mouth before their mouth burned too much.
You choose: Which group was the boys and which was the girls?
You choose: Which group was the boys and which was the girls?
Do Red Hot candies still exist? Obviously, the red hots=boys and the Valentine reading/talking about who likes whom=girls. Or maybe it's obvious to me since I have one of each. :)
ReplyDeleteI see Red Hots around every once in a while. I think the last time I saw them was in Dollar Tree. Yes, the boys were in a competition to see who could stand the the most Red Hots in their mouths while the girls were discussing relationships.
DeleteMy kids never liked Red Hots but I would have guessed the girls chatted while the boys stuffed their faces. I see that I would have been right!
ReplyDeleteMy kids did like Red Hots, but not as much as I like them. I still eat them every once in a while.
DeleteThat was very interesting! I wonder how much of that behavior is learned?
ReplyDeleteI don't think we will ever be able to totally answer the Nature vs. Nurture question, but studies they've done around the world say there are some basic differences between the genders. When examining children and the way they play across all kinds of cultures around the world they consistently found that girls play more cooperative/social games while boys play competitive games. Even when girls are playing competitive games, they will sacrifice winning to include someone. (Of, course this doesn't speak to the mean girl phase when they get a little older except it's still about being social in one way or another.)
DeleteThat is hysterical!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was pretty funny, too. However as the grownup, I had to discourage the boys from their game.
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