Boys and Girls
Half Changed World has an interesting entry on boy vs. girl
roles.
As the parent of both a boy and a girl, I've found the whole subject fascinating. Both kids have gone through some stereotypical gender phases. Girl D loved princesses for her entire 3 year old existence. Boy D loves trucks of all kind. He's 2 and the garbage collection on Tuesday is certainly the highlight of the week.
But now Girl D loves dinosaurs - her whole room in decorated in them. And Boy D likes to wear lipstick and loves the color pink. They play with dolls together. They play with toy cars together.
Lately, I've noticed that most of my female friends who are combining motherhood with some type of career (either part-time like me or full time or whatever), grew up in families with more girls than boys. This is completely anecdotal - no scientific evidence or anything like that.
But I have wondered if the presence of boys in a family might somehow "lessen" the education and/or career ambitions of their sisters. Not necessarily due to parental treatment, but from society as a whole. Because if all of our presidents have been men, are we more likely to assume that our son will grow up to be in politics rather than our daughter? And If all of our professional sports teams are men, do we encourage the boys more in athletics? How can we not, on some hidden subconscious level?
I'm trying to teach my daughter that she can be anything her heart desires. But later on, I'll also try to prepare her for the reality that if she chooses to have children, her heart's desires might change rather dramatically. Because there is one gender difference that is 100% proven - females are the only ones who can bear children and the only ones who can nurse them.
In the meantime, we'll just continue to learn about the dinosaurs. Pachycephalosaurus, parasauralophus and the rest. (A year ago, I couldn't have even identified that those were dinosaurs. Now I can say them...and even spell them. Who knew kids would teach us so much?). Maybe I'll even be visiting daughter D on her big paleontologist dig in 25 years. If I'm really lucky, maybe I can even come and take care of the grand-baby while she digs...
As the parent of both a boy and a girl, I've found the whole subject fascinating. Both kids have gone through some stereotypical gender phases. Girl D loved princesses for her entire 3 year old existence. Boy D loves trucks of all kind. He's 2 and the garbage collection on Tuesday is certainly the highlight of the week.
But now Girl D loves dinosaurs - her whole room in decorated in them. And Boy D likes to wear lipstick and loves the color pink. They play with dolls together. They play with toy cars together.
Lately, I've noticed that most of my female friends who are combining motherhood with some type of career (either part-time like me or full time or whatever), grew up in families with more girls than boys. This is completely anecdotal - no scientific evidence or anything like that.
But I have wondered if the presence of boys in a family might somehow "lessen" the education and/or career ambitions of their sisters. Not necessarily due to parental treatment, but from society as a whole. Because if all of our presidents have been men, are we more likely to assume that our son will grow up to be in politics rather than our daughter? And If all of our professional sports teams are men, do we encourage the boys more in athletics? How can we not, on some hidden subconscious level?
I'm trying to teach my daughter that she can be anything her heart desires. But later on, I'll also try to prepare her for the reality that if she chooses to have children, her heart's desires might change rather dramatically. Because there is one gender difference that is 100% proven - females are the only ones who can bear children and the only ones who can nurse them.
In the meantime, we'll just continue to learn about the dinosaurs. Pachycephalosaurus, parasauralophus and the rest. (A year ago, I couldn't have even identified that those were dinosaurs. Now I can say them...and even spell them. Who knew kids would teach us so much?). Maybe I'll even be visiting daughter D on her big paleontologist dig in 25 years. If I'm really lucky, maybe I can even come and take care of the grand-baby while she digs...
Posted: Wed - June 29, 2005 at 03:08 PM
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Kristen's blog on family life in WI with her 3 D's. (Daddy D, Daughter D and Son D) What can we say? We liked the letter.
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Published On: Aug 26, 2005 09:21 PM
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Published On: Aug 26, 2005 09:21 PM