A person’s a person, no matter how small.

Dr. Seuss

If you’re like me, you’re a fan of Dr. Seuss. From the start of One Fish, Two Fish he had me hooked. The rhyming nature of his work, the tongue twisters he puts together, and even his illustrating are a huge reason he still is a mainstay in children’s literature.

But the thing that enthralls me the most is the whimsical worlds he creates. The houses defies the laws of physics, animals can talk (of course), and a big-hearted moose gets away just in time. He had an uncanny nature to inject the world of a child’s mind onto each page, to display the same sense of wonder at what is going on in the world as the readers are experiencing.

Being in touch with a child’s mind like this is a gift. One that I don’t have. But having observed my own children growing, I’ve noticed a distinct difference between my son and my daughter. Yes, all children are different and unique and will have inherent differences. But there’s just something different about how they are wired as genders.

My son is awesome. His enthusiasm for life seems unparalleled. He is wild, crazy, and fierce, always wanting your attention and always full of energy. Some days he is Batman, other days he is the Flash. He always thinks he can win and always hates losing (which is bad because he is nowhere near as fast the adult he always challenges to race… me).

But regardless of how he is pretending to be that day, without fail, any toy you give him inevitably ends up being a weapon. It may be a sword, a knife, a gun, a “shooter”, a blaster, a light-saber, or another item from his imagination. There’s always a bad guy to catch, a person to fight, a pirate to find, or something else seemingly manly to do. He is currently walking around asking “where is my blaster?” It’s always destruction and fighting.

Alternatively, my daughter also loves being sweet and cuddly, pretending to be Wonder Woman, Batgirl, or other girl-based superhero. Where “Batman” likes fighting, “Batgirl” loves saving. She’s there to pull him out of trouble when he gets caught by Daddy. She’s there to save her stuffed animals. Instead of building weapons, she has accessories. She builds homes and beds, and wants to make sure things are tucked in tight.

I realize that gender is a touchy topic in our present society, and I am not intending to wade into that fight. However, I marvel at the diversity I see in my own kids, raised in the same house. No matter how much we encourage our son to build something “nice”, it always becomes a weapon or a base or similar. As soon as our daughter gets involved, she labels it something charming. From the womb, with the same environment and upbringing, they demonstrate very different inherent tendencies. What a wonderful world we live in.

Cheers,

SF