Nature vs Nurture

I'm a firm believer in the poem that girls are made from sugar & spice & everything nice (some have more spice than others..) and little boys are snips, snails and puppy dog tails. I believe boys and girls have characteristics befitting their gender to the ultimate purpose of fulfilling their family role. Which to me means, girls are the nurturers for future families and boys are the protectors/bread-winner. That's not to say we can't take on the other role if needed - I was the bread-winner for years. But as a generalization, this outlook usually fits most kids.

Via

So why do I bring this up? Well my friends, I have the blessing of having my own little 'snip/snail' and being a nursery leader in my church (teach the 18month olds - 3 yr olds)  it AMAZES me to see the things boys/girls pick up on.

For instance, Mr and I will sometimes watch a show after dinner while The Admiral plays on my kindle or with his toys. This was totally fine when he was younger as he had no clue what was going on. Since most adult shows have some villains in them, he immediately was fixated. All he talks about now is 'bad guys'. He's not scared, he's just fascinated by them and loves to proclaim what they're doing & when they get put away.

Let's fast forward to Sunday where I'm looking at a book with a 3 yr old boy. It was a book from Bugs Life. Bugs Life people. And he proceeds to point to a random bug and say "That's a bad guy!". Immediately another 3 yr old boy pops his head up from the ground like a rabbit. It was like magic. And he excitedly replies, "Bad guy? Bad guy? Where??" and runs over to see. Neither boy was scared but the reaction made me laugh.

It's the whole 'cowboy/indian' thing. It's the 'I've never let my child watch TV and yet he somehow knows a stick can be a pretend gun'. It's fascinating to see how their minds work. Kids are awesome.