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June 10, 2010
Boys will be...
There is a great article in this month's Esquire by A.J. Jacobs entitled "How to Raise Men." He has three kids under the age of six--all boys.
He writes:
If anyone thinks gender is purely social construct--as I once did--they should spend a couple of hours with my sons. It's like my boys read a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fulfilling Male Stereotypes.
Let me go down the list:
* Fascinated by cars and transportation? Check. (They sit spellbound while I read books with phrases like 'and the boxcar shunts freight.')
* Obsessed with sports? Check. (My eldest son wanted to name his brothers Baseball and Basketball.)
* Fans of violence? Yes. (All roads lead to physical conflict, e.g. hugging turns into wrestling, which turns into eyeball clawing.)
* Intrigued by bodily functions? Check. (The first picture book my eldest son created was about a man who took a dump on the 43rd floor of the Empire State Building.)
* Love guns? Yes. (Despite my attempts at arms control--including renaming water guns water "squirters.")
* Loud? Beyond comprehension. (When I ask my son Zane to be quiet because his mom is napping, he'll walk by her room shouting "TIP-TOE! TIP-TOE!")
Amen to all of these. I thought Finn was a fluke, but Cormac is like a miniature John Belushi between his comical burps, full-body tackles, and pure volume. I have come to terms that I am outnumbered. But it is really OK. I will never have to play princesses.
Posted by lisa at June 10, 2010 08:24 PM
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