Please, do not try to tell me that little boys are just socially conditioned to behave in a different way than little girls. Since I grew up with only one sister, some of the ways that little boys played stunned me. It was like I was an observer watching an alien society.
As toddlers, my three sons would stare at wheels turning as they ran toy cars back and forth again and again, totally engaged. in this repetitious action. It was an inborn obsession that developed into any machine that had wheels. Tricycles, bicycles, waggons, lawn tractors, cars and trucks were not only driven but also examined in minute detail. The boys turned triclycles and bikes upside down and examined wheels, fill tires and fiddle with the gears. Even more hours went by hours went by with my sons’ heads stuck under the hood of a car.They also seemed born with the ability to drive anything with an engine. While the girls struggled to learn how to drive cars (just ask their frustrated father), the boys learned effortlessly. I certainly tried to curb aggressive instincts and I definitely didn’t want my first-born to have a toy gun. What did he do? He found sticks with stumps acting as the trigger and later made them out of Lego. I just threw my hands up in defeat after that. Now all three are avid hunters.
One day Matthew was about four or five and he asked for his sister’s water proof doll. I was so pleased. thought,
“Yes! I have raised a son with nurturing instincts!”
When I came back into the bathroom a few minutes later, the head was off the doll and he was holding the rubber tubing that connected the doll’s mouth to its bottom. Matthew was making loud machine noises as he lowered the head into the water , filled it, slowly lifted it and then swung the head around , imitating a crane pouring water into the bucket.
So much for the feminizing of my boys.
However , I am proud to report that all three young men are very good with babies. In fact they are just as crazy about babies as the rest of us..
mother of nine9 