Nature vs. Nurture

The child development classes I took in college were always filled with discussions about whether children become who they are because they are wired that way or because they learn the behaviors. One thing I have figured out through my own experiments (a.k.a. my kids) is that girls and boys are predetermined to be, in very scientific terms, different.

My first realization of this difference came when Jarrett started playing with toys. The majority of our toys were girly since they were Danielle's, but we also had a few cars for her to play with. Jarrett naturally gravitated towards the cars. Now our house is littered with both kinds of toys, and Liesl will play with both (more like steal whatever Jarrett's playing with), but lately she's been caught being cuddly with dolls, loves putting on shoes and wears a purse (even though I don't).

The shoes she like are high heeled, so she's learned after a few times of slipping on the tile that it's more sensible to wear just one. (It's also very appropriate since they're Cinderella shoes!)

I know there are exceptions to every rule, but at least in my laboratory, the results are telling me that girls will be girls and boys will be boys.