There was a time when I believed that children became more boyish or girlish as they grew older in response to role models and subtle (and not-to-subtle) cues their parents\/tutors gave them. My daughter and son clearly don\u2019t share that belief. Neither my wife nor I are particularly masculine or feminine (you can take hat whatever way you like) but our children could not be closer to stereotypes if you had sent them to Stereotypes R Us school. Daughter loves pink, dresses, new clothes, hanging out with her posse of 4 year olds, cute little furry things, princesses and shoes. The boy, since he could articulate a thought, has
\nloved trucks, big trucks, cars, hitting things with things, noise, and, uh\u2026princesses and shoes.
\nOk\u2026so I\u2019m thinking the shoes fetish will pass. He\u2019s only 2 1\/2 so I\u2019m not worried about him prancing about the kitchen in pink princess pumps or his sister\u2019s black patent dressy shoes that he likes to call his \u201cfirefighter boots\u201d. Nor do I worry about his name change, last week, to \u201cMulan\u201d \u2014 when I pointed out it was a girl\u2019s name he quickly changed it to \u201cMulano.\u201d Sometimes, his thought processes are pretty transparent\u2026today his sister decided she would henceforth be known as Princess Mary thereby provoking him to change his
\nmoniker to \u201cPrincess Chocolate\u201d, which is wrong in so many ways given his pudgy boyish looks, fair skin and blond hair. After all, \u201ctransparent\u201d and \u201cmale\u201d kinda go hand-in-hand. Where boy and girl meet, however, is in their capacity to cause me to wonder if there isn\u2019t some old soul buried in their tiny bodies.<\/p>\n
The other day I was making myself a pot of coffee \u2014 a rare occurrence since my doc ordered me off coffee. As he was passing by he asked \u201cIs that coffee?\u201d Now ours is mostly a tea place so I really don\u2019t know at what point the word \u201ccoffee\u201d enters a 2 year old\u2019s vocabulary but I answered matter-of-factly \u201cWhy, yes\u2026that is coffee\u2026\u201d He turned away and, walking purposefully away, casually said \u201cahhhhh\u2026..I love cofee\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Incredulous, I blurted \u201cWhat!? You love coffee?\u201d
\n\u201cPfack! Blech! No\u2026uh,\u201d he laughs nervously, \u201d I hate coffee\u2026heh heh\u2026\u201d and walked away, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Now that\u2019s not a boy or girl thing\u2026but it sure felt different<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There was a time when I believed that children became more boyish or girlish as they grew older in response<\/p>\n