do you think girls and boys behaviour is different or the same? and just depends on the child

[lionbeastwithalionheart]

?

[SniffyHock]

My boy and girl are very different in some ways but similar in others.

DS was definatley more boisterous, always wanted to climb and run. DD is more cautious. They also showed very marked preferences for stereotypical, gender specific toys.

Nature or nurture???

[SniffyHock]

Shocking spelling - time for bed

[lionbeastwithalionheart]

night night

[paddyclamp]

I have an older boy then a younger girl but it's like having 2 boys in a way cos DD is very active and loves climbing just like her big brother! Also, she sure can stick up for herself!! Both are v adventurous.

As for the toys, DS has always loved cars, trains, stereotypical boy toys, DD does like dolls but is happy to play with "boys toys" too. DS can't stand girly glittery tat though.

Wonder how much DD's behaviour is affected by having a big brother?!

[TuttiFrutti]

More nature than nurture IME. DS is obsessed with cars, trains and planes and not remotely interested in dolls. My MIL bought him 2 dolls to prepare him for dd's birth and he's never even looked at them.

Dd on the other hand, despite being surrounded by thousands of toy cars, never looks at them and only wants to cuddle her dolls.

Also I can see even at 14 months that dd is interested in nurturing other people, so when she's eating something she tries to feed bits to me. It would never occur to ds to do this - he just wolfs down his food and then wants to leave the table.

Obviously they are all individuals but I think there are big differences in boys' and girls' behaviour which can't be explained by conditioning.

[annoyingdevil]

My ds and dd are both very boisterous, climbers, into everything. Both play with cars, dolls and pretend to feed me. I've never treated them any differently, so maybe that's why.

I have listened to endless relatives commenting on ds's boisterousness and "isn't he such a boy", whilst completely ignoring the fact that DD behaves in exactly the same way

I srongly believe in nurture and believe that we treat girls and boys very differently (although certain personality traits are genetic)

[Laugs]

I only have a DD, but I did notice today that she has been hit about 5 times by boys the same age as her (17 months), but never by a girl and she's never done it herself.

She's also taken to carryng my handbag around the house with her ALL the time.

But a boy might be the same, I don't know.

I do know we've conciously tried to correct the balance to some extent against girliness ie. avoiding pink clothes and gender-specific toys, as I just find it really annoying.

So I suppose I think nature must play a large role.

[loler]

OK - my dc are a bit strange - wonder where they get that.

dd (4) is very into football and can't get her out of her football kit. ds1 was 3 yesterday, his favourite present was some pink clipclop shoes that he walks around in carrying his pink power ranger in his pink hand bag. both of them play very similar games with cars and dolls. Both have got good concentration and love games and drawing.

DS1 is probably rougher but dd can hold her own (but is a bit sneaky with her punches). ds1 has always loved to climb and nursery commented when he was young that he had to be on the highest point in the room. At school dd generally plays with the boys in her class. Would say that their biggest difference is that dd is very self aware and more aware of other people. DS1 has no concept of where his corners are so he's quite clumsy and he normally appears to be in a world of his own.

Will be interesting to see how ds2 turns out!

Blimey don't I go on!

[Dynamicnanny]

Having worked within a 1-2 room I would definitley say there is a marked differnce between boys and girls evn when they are being treated the same and have the same opportunity to access the same toys etc.

Boys were all into mass destruction whilst girls always wanted cuddles, or to read books although - big generalisation and of course they all enjoyed all the activities

One thing that sticks in my head is we were having problems with 2 little boys getting down from the table at meal times running about and generally not doing as asked so we would just ignore them and say how yummy the food was and it was a shame they didn't ant some - they woudl soon come rushing over or shout at you if you tried to take their meal. lol however one day 2 little girls did the same the boys were at the table and they started running around so we ignored siad ooh this is yummy its a shame you don't want any and they just laughed and chatted to eachother lol

[InTheDollshouse]

Boys and girls are different but you can't conclude that it's "nature" rather than "nurture", because people treat boys and girls differently from the word go.

There's a famous experiment in which volunteers were asked to look after a baby. Half the time the baby was dressed in pinky girly clothes and half the time, in blue boys clothes - but it was the same baby. When the volunteers thought the baby was a girl they handled it much more gently, whereas when they thought it was a boy, they bounced it on their knee and were generally more boisterous in their interactions.

So even in families where the parents swear they treat their son and daughter the same are probably treating them subtly differently in many, many little ways.