Way back in my premarriag/early marriage days I was a receptionist at a veterinary hosp. I LOVED my job and the people I worked with. One of the vets was the mother of 2 adorable kids and she would let me babysit them, hang out at her house, stay nights when the weather was too bad for commuting, etc.... We were friends and I ADORED here kids. Anyhow, she was telling me one time that (now this is the jist of the conversation. 9+ years have taken their toll and my memory and there is no way I could tell it verbatim!) BEFORE she had kids she had bought into the theory that boys and girls are only different because of how we raise them.... meaning boy are more masculine and like "boy toys" because that is how we parent them and girls like "girly things" because that is what we raise them to like. I think because she was rather tomboyish herself it made understanding girly girls easier. Anyhow, THEN she had kids! LOL!!!! Her little was one of the girliest little girls! Dresses every day, froofy, frillies, tea parties and baby dolls. Her boy on the other hand couldn't have been more BOY. Tractors and equipment, farm work and cars. :o) You know I laughed to myself rather smugly because, even without kids of my own, I knew that God created boys and girls very differently. There are different variations within each gender and manifests itself differently in each child but girls are girls and boys are boys. Being thus convinced, I didn't think I had any surprises in store when I had girls and then a boy. I mean seriously, I KNOW they are different but somehow knowing and experiencing on a daily basis are very different. There are days I shake my head in AMAZEMENT at the difference. I mean WOW!!! My girls are VERY much into tea parties, playing house, comforting and caring for the sick stuffed animals (who have always fallen prey to some supremely tragic fate), or some other such thing. Even their outside play is tinged with it. Forts become personalized and made homey, they name them. For instance then have a large puddle/overflowing ditch/? named "Charlotte" and a tree named "Luke". They make garden areas in these forts and just, in general, practice for their roles as "growned up" women, and I LOVE it. Now my BOY on the other hand, although he doesn't mind playing such things with the girls on occasion , wants to be "WORKN". He may build boats out of the couches (WHY CAN'T THEY BE BOATS WITH THE CUSHIONS ON?!?!?!), pound on the closest available surface with his toy hammer, make everything into a tool, "huntin' elk and eatin' elk" with his pretend guns (usually his hands or a stick, dig in the mud, or use a vacuum cleaner end to "clean" every available surface (particularly the dangerous ones that you have to stand on the back of the couches to reach). He doesn't want to just play, he wants to work, and the delight of his life is to have a job to do (other than picking up toys of course! lol) esp. if that job is with Daddy. There is nothing in the world like "helping" him.
Anyhow, all that to say that, I love to watch the difference between boys and girls! And, I have learned, that I knew all about marriage and child rearing BEFORE I was either wife or mother and now find that I know nothing! LOL!!!! All my theories and ideas were foolishness. Those wonderful absolute statements (MY kids will NEVER....., My spouse and I will ALWAYS........., etc....) have primarily proven false and my pride has received several nearly fatal (though not fatal enough!!!) blows in those areas. :o)
