Are you living in the neighborhood hangout?

wrote:

As the parent of a boy and a girl, I do find sometimes that
parents of children of only one sex have very limited views
There is a WORLD of difference between the two, at least
in my observations.

But if you had a second of either sex who happened to be of a different
temperament than its same-sex sibling, you might feel differently. I have a boy
and two girls, and it seems to me that the differences between the two girls
are at least as great as between either girl and the boy.

I'm willing to admit there may possibly be a different *average* point for
various behaviors in male and female children (that *more* boys than girls do
A, *more* girls than boys do B, etc.). I just think the overlap of behaviors
normal in either sex is enormously greater than most people seem to think.

--Helen

"David desJardins" wrote in message
...
I think parents of children of the same sex, even twins, often find
there's a "world of difference" between them, too. People are all
different.

I also think it's interesting that several people have remarked on their
boys having other boys over, and their girls having other girls over.
Is there more of this sort of sex segregation than when I was young, or
is it a cultural thing? I don't think I was particularly more likely to
have boys as friends than girls.


I've noticed that when DS has only male friends over the noise level is more
constant. I've also noticed that when it is a mixed group, even just Ds and
a girl visitor, the boys tend to be louder *longer*, but the girls have
shriller loud sounds, which can be grating to me. Good thing we just have
one child, so I can get some peace and quite at least once a year! lol

-Aula

"H Schinske" wrote in message
...
wrote:

As the parent of a boy and a girl, I do find sometimes that
parents of children of only one sex have very limited views
There is a WORLD of difference between the two, at least
in my observations.

But if you had a second of either sex who happened to be of a different
temperament than its same-sex sibling, you might feel differently. I have
a boy
and two girls, and it seems to me that the differences between the two
girls
are at least as great as between either girl and the boy.

I'm willing to admit there may possibly be a different *average* point for
various behaviors in male and female children (that *more* boys than girls
do
A, *more* girls than boys do B, etc.). I just think the overlap of
behaviors
normal in either sex is enormously greater than most people seem to think.

Exactly. I've noticed that people with a boy and a girl tend to attribute
the differences between their children to gender. I have seven children and
I can't think of any gender-based patterns among my children. I have
extroverted, introverted, loud, quiet, athletic, artistic, sensitive, brave,
etc. children and I can't see any relationship to whether they are boys or
girls.

Jayne

Louise wrote in message . ..
In article , "Jeff"
wrote:


"Kevin Karplus" wrote in message
.. .

(...)


Not all boys are loud---though some certainly are, and the ones that
hang out in big packs seem more likely to be loud.

You obviously have not met my 6-year old neice and her friends. They can be
VERT LOUD

I don't think that Kevin was saying "girls aren't loud" or "boys are
louder than girls" -- and I don't think Marjorie was either,
necessarily.


No, I couldn't possibly. BOTH of my kids have only one volume,
screaming. They don't talk...they just yell. But they are *nothing*
compared to one of my son's friends, who is so loud that you can hear
him in the very back of a store the second you walk in the front. He's
amazingly loud. Absolutely no volume control whatsoever.

I think I'd amend my statements to say all preteens are very loud.
It's the nature of the 'notice me' behaviour that is so rampant at
this age. Anyone who has spent time working with middle school kids
can attest they are really unbelievably loud.

Marjorie

Elizabeth Gardner wrote in message ...
In article ,
David desJardins wrote:

Scott Lindstrom writes:
As the parent of a boy and a girl, I do find sometimes that
parents of children of only one sex have very limited views
There is a WORLD of difference between the two, at least
in my observations.

I think parents of children of the same sex, even twins, often find
there's a "world of difference" between them, too. People are all
different.

I also think it's interesting that several people have remarked on their
boys having other boys over, and their girls having other girls over.
Is there more of this sort of sex segregation than when I was young, or
is it a cultural thing? I don't think I was particularly more likely to
have boys as friends than girls.



I think it's an age thing. Your kids may not have hit the opposite sex
cooties stage yet, but IME more kids do than don't, round about K or
first grade. My daughter is in second grade, and it's very pronounced.
She has friends who are boys, but they're either kids she's known since
the cradle (ergo, more brotherlike) or kids who aren't in her class at
school (they're older, or go to different schools, and she knows them
through us or through outside activities). Making new "pal-around" type
friends of the opposite sex within the school social group seems to be
against the unwritten law, at least at this age. It was so when I was
in first grade also. I lost my best friend because he was a boy and
wouldn't play with me anymore, lest the other boys give him a hard time.
By fourth grade, there was some boy-girl interaction.

I don't know if it's an age thing, or just a thing that certain kids
choose to do. The daughter of a good friend of mine has just entered
4th grade. She's 9. EVERY time our families get together she wants my
daughter to play "chase the boys" and every time my daughter complains
vociferously about the stupidity of this game. They were just over
last weekend and it happened again and my daughter said, "I haven't
chased boys since I was in kindergarten. You're TOO OLD for this kind
of game." I highly doubt it will stop this girl, since this seems to
be the essence of her existance, but I did think it rather amazing
that my daughter insisted on not getting into it, since it just
antagonizes the two boys.

So, I do think that it is more rampant in a certain personality trait,
and not really an 'all girls/all boys' kind of thing.

Marjorie