My Boys Will Be Boys

When I was in the seventh grade, the smartest girl in school (happened to be my good friend) wanted to be my partner for the Science Fair. I was so excited, I might finally receive a ribbon. She thought gender identity would be a good topic and so we presented it to our teacher and after receiving her OK, we set about doing the research. At that time, it was all beyond me; I really didn't understand what exactly we were supposed to be doing. My partner made a board with pictures of toys and just general interests items, of what girls and boy would like, to conduct our experiment. We researched brain, size and aptitude for both male and females and then we did our experiment. 

Our experiment consisted of calling a few boys and a few girls from Kindergarten and up to 8th grade study the board for about a minute and then report back what items on the board they remembered. It was fun! All the results from every one who participated were logged and then we did our report on gender identity based on the results of our experiment. It wasn't anything overly groundbreaking; I believe we won second or third place (We got a ribbon!!). The boys reported remembering boy items! I know unbelievable, right? The girls remembered the girl items. Both boys and girls remembered gender neutral items like a school bus. Our hypothesis was gender identity was hardwired into the brain. We should've won first place, in my opinion. Amazing a seventh grade science experiment placed boys and girls in different categories. Boys liked different things then the girls did. Not one boy remembered the hair brush or ribbon, they all remembered the football helmet and the firetruck. It was very interesting, I didn't even realize how compelling this was then, but I do now.  

We have made the decision to homeschool our children.  A lot of our reasoning is due to the definite blur of gender lines in public schools and the curriculum issues that have cropped up in the past ten,fifteen years. My son, Michael, is all boy from the first noises he made, boy noises, grunting, car sounds. Francis is still too young to really judge his disposition, but I'm guessing he will be right in line with Michael. If you sit on the floor for even just a second, Michael comes right over and tries to take you down. He may even be a great wrestler someday. He truly has a sweet disposition, he tends to gaze at everyone under his super long eyelashes. He is shy and sweet but loud and obnoxious all at the same time. I wouldn't change him for the world. He loves planes, trains, helicopters and automobiles. He is a boy, energetic and amazing. He doesn't have energy issues, he is just a boy. He is always on the move, and very destructive. He loves to rip apart his train table, I think it brings him joy to rip it apart and watch me put it back together again. He has an appetite neither of his older sisters can touch. He is predisposed to love junk food, the girls would never think of touching. He is all boy. 

I know if I sent my sons to school the boy would be taken right out of them. That's what they do now, they put our boys on meds because they have too much energy. They say they are discipline issues because they like to rough house, they're boys, it's hardwired into them. He would be told not to wrestle, play tag, or make gun shapes with his fingers and say bang bang. He'd be told he can't play cops and robbers or God forbid, cowboys and Indians, someone could get hurt.

 I feel it is very important for Michael and Francis to be boys. I can't wait to encourage their play. To watch them be superheros and GI Joes. I can't wait for them to bring me home a frog or even worms just because they're boys and they like slimy things. I can't wait to see them evolve into men. Men who need a woman to smooth out their rough boy edges, because I'm going to let my boys be boys. I think more parents should encourage their boys to be real, Peter Pan style boys........Have you seen that movie lately?