Boys will be Boys....

It always intrigues me that there are people out there who don't want to impose gender stereotypes onto their children....like this guy.  There's this whole attitude in the media and secular society that people should be free to be whoever they want to be...even if that violates their actual person and their personal DNA.  I guess they are afraid of inequality among the sexes, but who ever said the strengths natural to femininity are any less/more important to the strengths of masculinity?  Ok, I guess some people have, but those people have misconstrued the roles proper to genders in a whole different direction.  Either way, my point is, I can't help notice with my children that boys naturally emulate masculine qualities and girls naturally emulate feminine ones.  And, they are comfortable with "gender stereotypes", too.  My girls genuinely prefer doing girly things, and my boy prefers doing boy things.  Even from young ages.  My little girl, who is not quite two, will carry a baby doll around all day and love on her, try to change her diaper, rock her, and sing to her....and, in the next moment, put her in the corner and command her to say "yes ma'am".  When my son gets his hands on the doll, it's not quite as pretty.  It's funny...no matter what toy you give my children, the girls will put a feminine touch on it (like using the toy dump truck for a shopping trip), and the boy will put a masculine touch on it (like putting the baby doll in prison because she set a house on fire).  You would think my son would be a little more comfortable with his softer side since he is in a house full of females for the majority of his life, but just the other day, he told me he wanted a toy axe for his birthday that he saw at Target.  I asked him what he would do with it, and he said, in the deepest voice he could muster, "chop off people's heads!"  Now, I guarantee he never heard that from the girls in this house!  Again, just today, they were all three playing at the island in the kitchen while waiting for lunch.  They built one of Natalie's My Littly Pony puzzles (alright!  I built it...I can't resist a puzzle, even if it does only have 24 pieces), and they were using a few little figurine toys to play pretend.  There was a miniature my little pony doll, a little dog, an air plane, a helicopter, and a lego building they had built earlier today.  Andrew went straight for the airplane and helicopter, Rachel opted for the pink pony, and Natalie wanted the dog with the pink collar.  I joined in the fun intermittently while fixing lunch.  It started off quite friendly....their toys pretended to talk to each other and play together...Natalie had them picking apples, flying kites, and sliding down rainbows that were pictured on her puzzle.  Everybody was getting along, at least until Andrew entered the scene.  His airplane flew in, demanded to know what was going on, and then proceeded to blow everything up and set the entire scene on fire.  I think they all ended up in prison by the time it was over, and I'm sure Natalie was disappointed because her cakes and pies burned up in Andrew's helicopter attack.  My point is, when parents try to squash gender roles in their children, all it does is cause problems.  People grow up to be confused about their identity, unsure of where they are supposed to be in life, and at a loss of how to properly interact with others - especially others of the opposite sex.  So, let your boys be boys and let your girls be girls.  I think some parents today try to make their girls too tough, and their boys too soft.  And, I'm not saying that girls should be weak and incapable of doing things for themselves, or that boys should lack compassion and sensitivity, but there's nothing wrong with knowing and accepting that men are better at somethings than women, and that women are better at somethings than men.  And, whether women are willing to admit it or not, we actually do want our husbands to be strong and masculine.  Maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but it makes me feel safe, protected, and loved.  As men and women, we should compliment each other, not constantly compete with each other.  I mean, I know my husband is better at taking out the garbage than me, so far be it from me to stand in his way for the sake of self-sufficient, feminist pride  =)