When you know you got a girl/ boy...

[ReallyTired]

Today the teacher took me to one side. Apparently dd had thrown a massive tantrum in literacy as she wanted to complete her writing instead of going to assembly. Apparently she told the TA that assembly was a waste of time and she wanted to finish her story.

Ds would never had done that in year 1/ five years old. When he was in year 1 the teacher used to take me to one side to say that he been caught fighting. Getting ds to write is still like getting blood out of a stone at the age of 12.

I used to think that differences between boys and girls were down to nuture, but I am not sure what I have done differently with my parenting.

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Eh? Not sure I get this...

Ds spent every single playtime at primary school with his nose in a book and still does at secondary. He goes to poetry and creative writing club and spends almost every evening at home writing or reading. He's now 14.

He has never had a fight nor played football outside of a PE lesson in his life.

[Rainicorn]

I have three boys, two dislike writing and the other one loves writting. Don't think its a gender thing.

[PotsAndCambert]

Nurture wo a doubt.
I tight be that your two dcs happen to like stories/active play but in general, the difference is from nurture.

That's why you see girls writting stories and boys been good at maths here when in other countries, it's girls who are good at maths and boys are just as good at writing stories.

[phonebox]

I can sympathise with your DD - most assemblies are a massive waste of time for most children.

I used to try and get out of the long ones as much as possible!

[Taffeta]

Mine are the opposite. DS (10) more academic and likes writing. He actually uses the desk in his room, he likes pens, stationery and takes a pride in his handwriting etc. He is also football mad, if that's if any relevance. Plays it, watches it, writes about it etc. Has always behaved well at school.

DD (8) hates writing. Not so academic, more into music. Also likes sport, if that's relevant, but wouldn't dream of writing about it. Is fairly ambivalent about all school work. The desk in her room is covered with dolls and their clothes.

My children are pretty much polar opposites, which makes me think it's 90% nature.

[Mrsindecision]

What a load of nonsense. I find this type of gender stereotyping so sad .

[AmberTheCat]

Think you may need a sample size of more than two in order to make such sweeping generalisations... I recommend Cordelia Fine's 'Delusions of Gender' for a brilliant exploration of the nature vs nurture question (and what your parenting may not be as gender neutral as you think...).

[AmberTheCat]

'why your parenting...', even.

[TheSpottedZebra]

You know what there has never been ? A male writer.

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Ha ha, Spotted Zebra. Excellent point.

[NotCitrus]

As it happens, ds had a tantrum just this morning because he wanted to finish his story.

Meanwhile nursery keep wanting a chat because dd is hitting other kids and staff and thinks it's hilariously funny.

[Doodledot]

Not citrus - similar here. Speak to the mums in my DD class and they know her as the mad boisterous girl who loves playing with boys and girls. Not a doll or pink anything is sight however. Always in trouble for playing up and being wild. Class mates like her as she's funny. She is not yet 5. My DS however complains that his class and the girls in particular are too noisy and he wants to concentrate

[BramwellBrown]

My DS is a beautifully behaved little bookworm who huffs if hes not given time to finish his writing, he loves football and it features in a lot of his writing but he has never in his life been in a fight with anyone other than DD and has never been in any trouble at school, so much so his teacher last year commented that he's either brilliant at not getting caught and going to be a master criminal or hes a saint.

DD however absolutely hates writing, spends about 50% of her time talking or daydreaming, is frequently in trouble and would happily sit in silence and watch paint dry if it meant she got out of creative writing, last night the second hand on the clock was more interesting than her homework for a good fifteen minutes before she realised she was going to miss Dragons - Defenders of Berk if she didn't get on with it. She has even been known to go and tidy her brothers room to delay her homework a little bit longer.