XY vs. XX

Little Girls are Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice and Little Boys are Hammers and Nails and Puppy Dog Tails (though to be honest, that last one kind of grosses me out). Those are the traditional characterizations of raising boys and girls and for the most part, and oddly I think, they hold true even in today's modern society.

Lets start with the opposites to this traditional view. There are always areas of grey and anomalies to the contrary for any sterotype. Some girls are tomboys and have a predication towards the rough and tumble world of boys with its skinned knees and bruised chins and dirty fingernails. Some boys are uncommonly sensitive in nature and have a yearning for pretty and clean things and an aversion to the typically muddy world of their gender. Many people in today's society assume that if child is definitively the polar opposite of their stereotype that it is an indicator of their future sexual orientation. That is simply obtuse and categorically ridiculous.  Keep in mind. always, that no matter what the stereotypes indicate or contra indicate, these are children. Children grow and develop and change many  times on their way to who they will become.  A little girl who enjoys playing with bugs might grow up to become a scientists, or a horticulture guru, or Supermodel, or the mother of the next President. A little boy who likes dolls, might become the worlds leading specialist in transplant surgery, or a professor, or Prize fighter, or the amazing father of triplets. You never know, what they will become and limiting your expectations because they don't fit the stereotype is shortsighted and prejudicial.

Now with all that said, everyone knows I am a mom to two very typical boys, and I think the universe knew what it was doing when it made me a mom.  Boys are amazing. They are little balls of energy and vigor in miniature human form. They play tough and they play muddy, but they play fair and without some of the nastiness girls do.  Boys fight, but as soon as the fight is over they are best friends again. My observations have shown me that boys are kinder, less vengeful than girls.  They wrestle for that prized hot-wheel, but when they are done they dig that fort out together with precision team work. Boys demand more physical energy from a mom.

I think that Girls tend to be very different. I have witnessed firsthand friends who have daughters. Most girls take much more emotional energy from a mom.  Its true, a girl is much more likely to sit in the same room with you and have a conversation, and go shopping, or participate in typical traditional female bonding experiences, but they can also be much quicker to anger and slower to forgive. I believe most Girls tend to gossip more, talk about their friends behind their backs and have nasty demeanor's stemming from insecurities and jealousy (it's rare that you find a boy who does this).  Girls seem to be quicker to rebel. I think the emotional makeup of girls requires them to seek out companionship (thus the hanging out with mom) but they desire to garner focus and attention on themselves. Just as most native cultures believe there is only 1 alpha male per tribe, I believe females rival for the same elevation.

Now I know this sounds like a lot of generalization, buts its just meant as a basis and not intended to be all encompassing. There are many girls who consciously elect not to follow the standard. Just as there are boys who clearly don't fit the stereotypical mold either. I think my point is that, as a mother, I think the energy required to raise boys vs. girls is very different. One is physical the other is emotional. I think most moms excel much greater at one than the other. Some can be spectacular at both. But we are predisposed to a proclivity that's tips the scales, however extreme or slight, in one direction or the other. 

The universe equipped me for boys. I much prefer the physical demands over the emotional.  I don't have patience for the emotional rollercoaster of raising a daughter.  I love my boys, even with their crude humor, the constant outcropping of smells from bodily functions, the dirty socks, and messy rooms (though I think the messiness is equal in girls as well), their grunts and groans, and extreme eating, I welcome and cherish it all. My boys, however testy they get with mom nagging, love me unconditionally and would stand up in defense for me if necessary anytime, anywhere, to any one.

The universe never gets it wrong.  And I'm proof of that.

My home is full of testosterone with just right dose of estrogen to balance it out and make it work.  Any more estrogen and we might all sit around making doilies and sharing tea time. :)