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Nature vs. Nurture
Feb. 28th, 2005 09:29 pmSo, I know a lot of people, myself included, who point to anecdotes about their kids to demonstrate that boys and girls are different even at a very young age. But in regard to the whole nature vs. nurture thing, here's an anecdote for you.
From a very young age, DS1 liked to play with baby dolls, such as the ones at daycare. I shared this information with friends and relatives, and they basically all said, "oh, that's interesting." Finally, I went out and bought him his very own baby doll (who goes by the name Baby Doll) that is still one of his favorite toys. But it's not like people have gone out of their way to get him baby dolls to play with, even when I've hinted.
One of our relatives bought DS1 a Brio-style train set, and he took to it right away. Family and friends caught wind of this, and before you knew it, our house was overflowing with expansions to the wooden train set, Thomas the Tank Engine toys of all shapes and sizes, books about trains, an electric train set, and piles of magazines for model train hobbyists. People have gone out of their way to take him to train museums and heck, we're even going on an overnight train journey because of his interest.
So how much of DS1's enthusiasm for trains is simply a result of people encouraging him? If DH was the sort of father who refused to let his son play with dolls, would he play with dolls at all? All the clothing for baby boys have icons of sports or trucks. All the clothing for baby girls has flowers and butterflies. Sure, little boys and girls tend to prefer different types of play. But how much do the adults around them reinforce those preferences, consciously or unconsciously?
I guess my point is that yes, boys and girls are different. But separating nature from nurture is extremely difficult.
From a very young age, DS1 liked to play with baby dolls, such as the ones at daycare. I shared this information with friends and relatives, and they basically all said, "oh, that's interesting." Finally, I went out and bought him his very own baby doll (who goes by the name Baby Doll) that is still one of his favorite toys. But it's not like people have gone out of their way to get him baby dolls to play with, even when I've hinted.
One of our relatives bought DS1 a Brio-style train set, and he took to it right away. Family and friends caught wind of this, and before you knew it, our house was overflowing with expansions to the wooden train set, Thomas the Tank Engine toys of all shapes and sizes, books about trains, an electric train set, and piles of magazines for model train hobbyists. People have gone out of their way to take him to train museums and heck, we're even going on an overnight train journey because of his interest.
So how much of DS1's enthusiasm for trains is simply a result of people encouraging him? If DH was the sort of father who refused to let his son play with dolls, would he play with dolls at all? All the clothing for baby boys have icons of sports or trucks. All the clothing for baby girls has flowers and butterflies. Sure, little boys and girls tend to prefer different types of play. But how much do the adults around them reinforce those preferences, consciously or unconsciously?
I guess my point is that yes, boys and girls are different. But separating nature from nurture is extremely difficult.
