G is for Girl vs. Boy

 April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,000 I have written.

Several years ago, I ran a series of Girls vs. Boys where I presented a scenario, and you had to guess who the girls were and who the boys were.

Here was my intro and three of the stories.

Before I had kids, I thought each child was an individual, and I didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that was 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. (Of course, with individual differences.) Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and realized I might have been mistaken. Possibly, there were some differences between girls and boys.

I am going to share some stories with you and let you decide who you think the girls were and who the boys were.

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Wally's Birthday Party

Wally was in fifth grade and turning 11. He had a pool party for his birthday at the local YMCA with both boys and girls. After an hour of swimming, the kids had pizza and soda. However, it took forever before the refreshments could be served. We were kept waiting by one group who were in the bathroom changing and making themselves presentable. Some of the other group changed out of their wet clothes, but many did not. When they finally sat down to eat, all of the boys sat at one end of the table, and all of the girls sat at the other end. One group saw how much pizza they could get into their mouths at once and laughed as they punched each other. The other group talked about who they were “dating.”

You decide. Which were the boys and which were the girls?

________________________________________________________________________________

In case you had any doubts: The boys were the wet punchers, and the girls were the well-coiffed ones. It may have been peer pressure, but there was no mixing between the two. I found it very interesting that some of the boys that the girls talked about that they were dating were some of the boys who were at the party. However, the boys were clueless that they were dating anyone.

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Legos

When Theo was six, I was sitting on his bedroom floor with him, playing with Legos. One of us was building a rectangular structure that looked much like a tall building, and the other one of us was building a smaller structure that was "flying" around the room. At first, we were both concentrating on our own creations, but then Theo looked at mine and said, "You build just like a girl." He said all of the girls he had seen play with Legos had built something like I did. That surprised me, but he was quite adamant about his conclusion.

You decide: Which one of us made the building and which one of us made the flying object?
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In case you want to know: I built the building and Theo built the flying object.

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Kindergarten Suns

Wally was in kindergarten, and we were visiting on parents' night. On the wall were pictures the kids had drawn, and we noticed that several of them featured a sun wearing sunglasses. Upon further investigation, we discovered that they were all drawn by one group of kids in the class. We thought this was interesting, but didn't think much about it until Theo was in kindergarten three years later. Then we saw the same thing--sunglasses on all of the suns in the drawings of one group.

You decide. Did the boys or the girls draw the sunglasses on the suns?

__________________________________________________________________________________

I'm not sure what it means, but the girls were the ones drawing sunglasses on the sun.

 

Until next time...

G is for Girls vs. Boys

Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and I 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. I'm not saying that nurture doesn't have some effect, but I don't think that's the whole story. I'm going to share one of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as not to bias you, I'm going to let you guess who the boys in the stories are and who the girls are. 

Today's Story

 

Wally was in fifth grade and turning 11 years old. He had a pool party for his birthday at the local YMCA with both boys and girls. After an hour of swimming, the kids had pizza and soda. However, it took forever before the refreshments could be served. We were kept waiting by one group, which was in the bathroom, changing and making themselves presentable. Some of the other group changed out of their wet clothes, but many did not. When they finally sat down to eat, all of the boys sat at one end of the table, and all of the girls sat at the other end. One group saw how much pizza they could get into their mouths at once and laughed as they punched each other. The other group talked about who they were “dating.”

You decide. Which were the girls, and which were the boys?

________________________________________________________________________________

In case you had any doubts, the boys were the wet punchers, and the girls were the well-coiffed ones. It may have been peer pressure, but there was no mixing between the two. I found it very interesting that some of the boys that the girls talked about that they were dating were some of the boys who were at the party. However, the boys were clueless that they were dating anyone.

Until next time...

Valentine's Day

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.

 Today's Story 

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?

Boys vs. Girls--grocery store carts

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. 


Grocery Shopping

Recently, I observed two different scenes of mothers in the grocery store with young children riding in the front of a cart. 

The first one had a child in the seat who said they wanted out, and then they simply wiggled out of the cart and onto the floor. The child proceeded to hop around happily. 

The second encounter involved a child yelling, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck." The mother said, "You're not stuck. You're strapped in." The child looked upset, but didn't get out of the cart.

Who do you think was the boy and who do you think was the girl?

___________________________________________________________________________________

The boy was the one who got out of the cart and the girl was the one who stayed in. You can draw you own conclusions about whether gender or individual personalities was the bigger influence on the behavior of these two kids.

Boys vs. Girls--A Visit to Teddy Roosevelt Island

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--Sticks
( Blogger is REALLY not cooperating, so no pictures today. :(

Ward and I visited Teddy Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C., yesterday. It is an island in the middle of the Potomac River and has a memorial to Teddy Roosevelt on it as well as several hiking and biking trails. We visited the island several years ago, but had been meaning to go back again since I read a biography about him.

We visited the memorial section first which included a statue as well as four granite monoliths with sayings from Roosevelt. Shortly after we arrived, another family joined us. They appeared to be made up of a grandmother, mom and dad, and three kids of elementary school age. The mother was carefully reading all of the quotes to the kids and asking them what they thought our former president meant. The dad and the grandmother would occasionally chip in comments to help the mother. The oldest kid sort of listened but kept repeating the story they had heard about the Teddy Bear. The middle one was maybe listening but was mostly digging in the dirt with a stick, and the youngest one was definitely not listening and was hitting everything they could see with a stick including their siblings. So what do you think? Was this a group of three brothers or three sisters?
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 It was a group of three brothers. Not that little girls don't play with sticks, but they don't seem to seek them out no matter what and continuously hit things with them. Or least that has been my experience with Wally, Theo, and lots of Cub Scouts. 

But Wait, There's More:
My favorite quote that I read at the Island.
  "Keep your eyes on the stars, but your feet on the ground."

Boys vs. Girls--The Pig

 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

I was at a pig roast where the pig was roasted with head and all. As it was laying on the table waiting to be carved, one child about five years old came over to investigate. Another child about the same age was swinging and appeared to have no interest in the pig. I saw the one, who was curious about the pig, poking at its face. Then heard them exclaim, "Mom, look! I picked the pig's nose."

One child was a boy and one was a girl. You decide: Who was the nose picker and who was the swinger?

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The boy was picking the pig's nose and the girl was swinging.

Boys vs. Girls--Sunshines

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

Wally was in kindergarten and we were visiting on parent's night. On the wall were pictures that the kids had drawn, and we noticed that several of them had a sun in them that was wearing sunglasses. Upon further investigation, we discovered that they were all drawn by one group of kids in the class. We thought this was interesting, but didn't think much about it until Theo was in kindergarten three years later. Then we saw the same thing--sunglasses on all of the suns in the drawings of one group.

You decide. Did the boys or the girls draw the sunglasses on the suns?

__________________________________________________________________________________

I'm not sure what it means, but the girls were the ones drawing sunglasses on the suns.

Boy vs. Girls--Legos

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

When Theo was six, I was sitting on his bedroom floor with him playing with Legos. One of us was building a rectangular structure that looked much like a tall building and the other one of us was building a smaller structure that was "flying" around the room. At first we were both concentrating on our own creations, but then Theo looked at mine and said, "You build just like a girl." He said all of the girls he had seen play with Legos, built something like I did. That surprised me, but he was quite adamant about his conclusion.

You decide: Which one of us made the building and which one of us made the flying object?
_____________________________________________________________________________

In case you want to know: I built the building and Theo built the flying object.

Boys vs. Girls--Wally's birthday party

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

 

Wally was in fifth grade and turning 11 years old. He had a pool party for his birthday at the local YMCA with both boys and girls. After an hour of swimming, the kids had pizza and soda. However, it took forever before the refreshments could be served. We were kept waiting by one group who were in the bathroom changing and making themselves presentable. Some of the other group changed out of their wet clothes, but many did not. When they finally sat down to eat, all of the boys sat at one end of the table and all of the girls sat at the other end. One group saw how much pizza they could get into their mouths at once and laughed as they punched each other. The other group talked about who they were “dating.”

You decide. Which were the boys and which were the girls?

________________________________________________________________________________

In case you had any doubts: The boys were the wet punchers and the girls were the well coiffed ones. It may have been peer pressure, but there was no mixing between the two. I found it very interesting that some of the boys that the girls talked about that they were dating were some of the boys that were at the party. However, the boys were clueless that they were dating anyone.

Boys vs. Girls--Future Plans

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 StoryTheo was playing Nintendo with his best friend from kindergarten, Julia. Here is the conversation Julia's mother and I overheard."You know that some day we are going to get married and we'll play this game with our little  boy or girl.""We can't play this game with our kids.""Why not?""It only has two controllers."

You decide: Which was Theo and which was Julia?_____________________________________________________________________________In case you're wondering--Julia had future plans for marriage, and Theo had future plans for the video game. (Is anyone else having problems with Blogger's formatting? It's driving me crazy. This post was going to look a lot different, but I can't seem to make it happen.)     

Boys vs. Girls--camping

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

When he was 11, Wally and I were discussing Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps. He was telling me what he had done at the camp that he had just returned from, and I was reliving my days at Girl Scout camp when I was about the same age. Among other things, we were comparing tents, cooking, and swimming. One of us swam in a lake and one of us swam in a pool. When one commented that there was a long hill that they walked down to go swimming, the other one said, “Did you race down the hill to see who could get there first?” To which the reply was, “No, we stayed in a group and sang songs.”

You chose: Which was the boy and which was the girl?

 ______________________________________________________

Answer: I was the one going down the hill singing songs with the other girls. It never occurred to us to race. However, that was the first thing Wally thought of when I said that had a long hill to go down.

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But Wait, There's More:

I didn't provide answers to the other Boy vs. Girls stories and some have been asking. So here they are if you want to play catch up. 

Boys vs. Girls--the Stuffed Animals 

Answer: Lily was the one cuddling her animal and talking to it. Wally was the one dragging his animal on ground and generally not paying much attention to it unless he hit something with it. It was very clear that Lily had a baby, and Wally had a toy.

Boys vs. Girls--Wally's Valentine Party 

Answer: The girls were the ones carefully opening each valentine and reading the messages. The boys ripped any candy off the valentines they got, then started playing with one of the party treats--Red Hots cinnamon candies. Each boy would put increasing numbers of candies in his mouth until it got too hot for them. They were definitely trying to out do each other during this game.

  (Of course, we all know that each person is a unique individual with their own set of special characteristics. No one is all boy just as no one is all girl.)   

Boys vs. Girls--The Stuffed Animals

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 I was working with a new person at work and he invited us over for dinner. He wanted me to meet his wife and little girl, Lily, who was the same age as Wally at the time. They were both just under two years old. Wally and Lily hit it off, and we parents had a good time watching as they toddled around with each other. Coincidentally, both Wally and Lilly were attached to a stuffed animal at the time that they carried everywhere. However, the way they carried them was quite different. One of them, carried it by the arm, swung it around, and drug it on the ground. The other one cuddled it in their arms and cooed quietly to it. You choose. Which was the boy and which was the girl?Disclaimer: Of course, we all know that each person is a unique individual with a special set of traits that makes them who they are. No one is “all boy” just as no one is “all girl.”     

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.

 Today's Story 

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?

Disclaimer: Of course, we all know that each person is a unique individual with a special set of traits that makes them who they are. No one is “all boy” just as no one is “all girl.”