A sad sight...

Id rather my girls break their arm trying things than never discover whether or not they actually enjoy stuff.

Agree. Actually takes me back to when my daughters were early teens. They did attract an audience of boys because they were the only ones acrobatic enough to run 20 yards, grab a rope hanging from a tree branch, launch themselves over the stream in the village and swing far enough to reach the other bank instead of landing in the water...a much better way of impressing the boys than standing around simpering - if impress the boys had been what they wanted. Which it wasn't because "doing stuff" was more interesting. Plenty of time for boys when they hadn't better things to do.

It's crap, and it's one of the main things that I warn my own girls against. In that pattern, the boys got to do the stuff that they wanted, for as long as they liked, in the knowledge that afterwards they got to feel up a girl who would still be hanging around, pathetically grateful for the attention .

I keep telling my two dds never to drop their own interests for a boy. Will be interested to see whether they listen to me.

It does continue into adulthood sadly. MIL is always very confused why I wouldn't consider watching DH play hockey or cricket or whatever a fun day out for myself and the children. I make a face and politely refrain from commenting.

Perhaps they have more sense than end up with a broken arm like DS1, broken ribs DS1's friend, knocked uncoucious (another friend) etc.

I think I would rather stand round with my mates than BMX tbh.

Ok I know, wrong answer!

True t'is pathetic. I would be OK if boys were equally keen on standing around watching girls "doing stuff". Unfortunately, lots of boys are more keen on doing girls than seeing girls doing stuff.

Always found professional audience girls pretty baffling - the passivity of it all I mean. Akin to non-verbal simpering.

This particular group may well have just come back from watching the girls doing something, but in my own teenage experience (and that of my friends) they wouldn't have been. I spent most of my time hanging around after boys at that age - listening to their band practice, watching them play computer games - on the promise that we'd do stuff together after they'd finished (said "stuff" generally involved them trying to persuade me to go further with them sexually than I wanted ).

Looking back, it was bloody pathetic. I have no idea why I did that, but all the other girls did the same. I was obviously desperate for male attention, which I wouldn't have got if I'd been jamming with my own band or following my own interests, because it wasn't the done thing for boys to watch girls doing stuff.

I wish I hadn't been like that, because it set patterns of passivity that were hard to grow out of as an adult.

How old were they? I think it was good they were out in a mixed group. If they were teenagers it's more about being together than what is being done. Maybe they didn't own bikes. Maybe they had all just come from watching the girls do show jumping, or running or something. Watching boys is a very exciting hobby at a certain age.

They could interact with their friends doing anything else.

'Watching Boys Do Stuff' together doesn't seem like that exciting a hobby to me

The were doing stuff. They were interacting with their friends.

It's awful isn't it.

Thinking back to that age I was afraid to do anything like that in case I got jeered at. Maybe girls are more conditioned to please/take jeering more to heart whereas boys just get on with it?