I am the only girl in my family of origin, the oldest of my folk's three progeny, the Big Sissy to my two younger brothers. I speak 'boy'. I get it. Boys are not a mystery.
Girls, however....
And being one has not always improved my understanding.
But I'm learning.
Because apparently I'm in charge of the day-to-day care and feeding of a handful of girls--a literal handful. As in five.
With a trio mix of boys.
There are plenty of little anecdotes in the Mommy Files about the differences I see between all the kids...the nuances of their personalities, the sundry of shades. I tend to not think of their differences as gender based...except for a particular venue.
And that venue would be....
the trampoline.
I've come to see the trampoline as a chromosomal cauldron of sorts, the black round vat of steaming gender divergence. All it takes is asking a few questions, interviewing the jumpees, to begin to see a pattern between male and female jumping experiences.
First we will establish the Female Trampoline Experience:
Me: "Girls, what are you doing?"
Girls: "Oh, well AT is being the girl and I'm the baby and we're in this desert and there are these camels and we're trying to catch one because we are so thirsty and then I turn into a girl too and we go to this tent and we put on beautiful jewels and then AT is the princess and then I turn into a princess too and then it turns out that we are both princesses and then we get to another tent and then there are mean people and we have to escape and then we are so scared and then we go over these very high mountains and we only have our beautiful dresses on and we find a little baby and then AT turns into the baby and I'm the princess and then we find out that we were sisters!"
Me: "Wow! So do you jump?"
Girls: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Well, you're on a trampoline...so when do you jump?"
Girls: "Remember, I told you that I'm the girl and AT is being the baby...."
Me: "Could you jump so I could take a picture?"
Girls: (with a bit of confusion) "Well, um, okaaaay....can we hold hands?"
Next, view the transcript from the Male Trampoline Experience:
Me: "Boys, what are you doing?"
Boys: "JUMPING!"
Me: "But what are you playing?"
Boys: "JUMPING!"
Me: "Anything else? Any drama? Any dialogue? Any plot? Any characters?"
Boys: "JUMPING! Oh, and sometimes we try to make each other fall off!"
And there you have it. For the female, the trampoline is a social stage, a black box theater venue for the princess stories, relationship-building, dialogue. For the male, the trampoline is for...jumping.
I find this profound.
Revealing the deeper mysteries of life,
~See more fun photo essays at Angie's Wordful Wednesdays~
ha hah hah ahahhhahahh... so understand this... and... there is a note for you on my blog... hope you are having a great day!! smile sent your way...
ReplyDeleteThat was so fun! And soooo true. My girls can't just jump on our trampoline either. There is ALWAYS a story line!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how little girls can turn anything into a drama or s princess story line.Oh to be young and so full of dreams and energy.
ReplyDeleteYou bet! Even my 3-year-old girl sits there and tells herself stories about what she is "doing." It cracks me up.
ReplyDeleteOh dear... My boys might need a little more male influence then. Nah, they are a little obsessed with trucks, dirt and bodily functions for me to doubt their maleness. They do like their dialogue though.
ReplyDeleteI only have one girl and one boy (at the moment) and I see this daily in their lives. Gabe just "is" and Liv has an entire dialouge for EVERY situation! She told the children's pastor she was a princess from India one day.
ReplyDeleteI have discovered these very truths. But, the problem around here is that Grace is the only girl in a cul-de-sac filled with elementary-school aged boys. So they all come over here to jump, and she tries to get them enthralled in her stories. Sometimes it works. Mostly, not. Yet another reason why I just didn't have enough children. LOL
ReplyDeleteI love these pictures they look like so much fun! You have some great kids.
ReplyDeleteOh so true! After having 3 boys, I am amazed at how different girls are! So, to all those crazies who say there is no difference, it's all nurture v. nature, I give a big old raspberry to you! My little girl takes her brothers light sabers, guns, rifles, swords and loves them as her babies. She gets mad when they want them back. Yes, she does have her own dollies, but pretending is oh so much better!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fun and TRUE parallel! I always find it funny when (some) people think that gender differences are environmental... after having kids of their own- they usually change their mind. God wired boys and girls soooo differently because God is creative and FUN, too! I love having both boys and girls!!
ReplyDeleteThis is too funny! I get asked all the time if I see a difference between boys and girls. I have to tell you that I wrote a little seomthing about this awhile back too. {You can see it here is you want, Octamom} The thoughts of Boys and Girls seems to really show up early. The whole "boys are this way beacuse of environment" has proven to be false in our family. The boys and girls were born in tandem. the pattern has much of the boy-girl-boy-girl in our 7 kids, so I have observed this "myth" and seen it disproved.
ReplyDeleteWhen the boy grows up with babies and Barbies scattered throughout the house and pick up a Barbie car to play with, it seems that he's truly a boy. Or sometimes, he would take the bathtub and pretend it was a car.
On the flipside, when the girl grows up with cars and trucks and mighty machines scattered throughout the living room, yet picks up a sock and starts to coddle it, cooing and "taking care" of it, she shows her girl side.
There has to be something ingrained in girls about taking care of things and something in boys about making loud noises and crashing stuff. :)
It is like that every day here! Not the jumping, but the whole girl/boy play. One crashes, and the other delicatly lines. One races the other prances.
ReplyDeleteI don't get boy. Why does everything have to be so loud,fast, BIG?
I'm glad I'm reading your blog maybe I'll learn something!
sooo true! LOL
ReplyDeleteYou always manage to make me laugh...I could so see that happening. My girlfriend and I could even make going to the movies an adventure. We would imagine we had money - big money, and that we weren't waiting for the Pinto to pick us up, but some limo driver that "FATHER" had sent for us. We would then decide what the rest of our daily agenda would entail...manicures? a ride in the yatch? Dinner in 5 star restaurant with table linens and real silver? We were such goobers. We still are.
ReplyDeleteI made a friend in the hospital when my son was born, her daughter was born the same day and we were roommates! She has three girls and two boys, and one day at her house I was sitting on the floor playing with the boys (with swords and blocks, I think) and she said, "it's perfect that you had a boy first. You speak Boy." I never really thought of it, but she's right. I don't know why, but I "get" boys. Small boys, anyway. When they get to be teenagers and adults I don't get them at all...and I don't want to!! :)
ReplyDeleteUncannily profound! Love your powers of objective observation, and your willingness to share them so artfully. :)
ReplyDeleteThose images are wonderful.
hey Octamom, love the pics and the dialog... it is so true. i want a girl so bad so I can have these amazing convos as well!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth. I remember one time my son and I were making a card. I was wanting him to make a rainbow, flowers, sun, a house... etc. He was adamant to draw this brown glob at the bottom. Finally I asked-- "what are you doing??" "It's a mud puddle, mama." Jumpin' Genders!!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA! That is so perfect. hehehe
ReplyDeleteVery observant. :)
haha, what a great post!
ReplyDeleteI love that!
ReplyDeleteGreater truths were never spoken.
ReplyDeleteWe had an interesting case of this in my family, since I was the odd one out. Being the oldest and a girl, with two younger brothers, then two younger sisters, then three more younger brothers, I ended up traveling from group to group. The scene always evolved when I entered the picture. With my sisters, I added drama and my own quirky humor, and with my brothers I insisted on the action having a story line. We all came together as a group for our faux wrestling matches, with all of us coming up with flamboyant characters. Differences aside, the trampoline is always a good time :o)
ReplyDeleteMy son's best friend is a girl. She has a box full of dress-up clothes, and always wants to play "Cinderella and Prince Charming." My son just wants to put on the pirate clothing and lock Cinderella in a cage. It's pretty entertaining to watch, actually!
ReplyDeleteseriously so TRUE! and too cute you interviewed! love it!
ReplyDeleteHow funny!! My kids do the same thing on the trampoline--too bad my son is out numbered!!
ReplyDeleteAs always, we are more complicated. Maybe more so than we have to be, but at least the boys can try to figure us out.
ReplyDeleteThat is too funny. I can totally see my girls getting deserted on an island where they are princesses and find out they are sisters all while standing on a trampoline :)
ReplyDeleteMakes me wanna have a boy :)
ha h a- perfect and sounds like my house!!
ReplyDeleteLOL See now, my boys try to kill each each other on the trampoline....
ReplyDeleteVery cute! Funny I see these differences in my two already. My Little Man is ALL BOY... and Angel she's a princess. I love the photos. Are you nervous about the trampoline? I guess I'm still a new Mom getting nervous about that stuff!
ReplyDeleteSo, I have a PRECOR 9.35i. We got it at a gym equipment supply store. It's a bit on the expensive side, but if you are a committed runner, it's worth it. It's professional quality and has the heart rate monitors in the handlebar... Also gives a lot more choices in the programming. I have two. The other one is a PRECOR 9.33. It's also very good, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the 9.35i has.
PS-let me know if you have any other questions.
ReplyDeleteHilarious. I only have 2 boys - no girls, but my guys are like yours. They would be trying to knock each other off too. Great pictures. :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE, LOVE that!!!
ReplyDeleteBwhahaha! Now that is hysterical!
ReplyDeleteYou are brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI love this, especially the pictures to go with!
ReplyDeleteExactly. Fantastic photos, too! :)
ReplyDeletemy kids exactly!!! how interesting huh!
ReplyDeleteHilarious! I guess this could also explain why my son's speaking vocabulary is so much less than the girls his age. He won't need an extensive vocabulary to explain his actions, he'll just need a few verbs.
ReplyDeleteTo True!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME CONTRAST!!!
ReplyDeleteI want some trampoline advice from you. My H just WILL.NOT. let me get one for the boys. Do you ever worry about them? I want to get one soooo bad for Christmas.
It is hard for me to understand how she went from baby carrier to the storyteller imaginare of the lot! I didn't get to see her through her early language years so I marvel at her thinking and the things she says. This was a clinic and you have the n in this research to prove there is a difference. I had the princess sagas only although my L could jump with the best of them! I miss your family!
ReplyDeleteI think I need some girls! Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteHa...My girls aren't quite into the theatrical play quite yet...they would be jumping like monkeys with your boys!
ReplyDeleteI seem to have the one exception that prooves the girl rule. My 7 year old daughter has no patience for story lines, and the thought of being a princess would just be ridiculous to her. When she gets desperate enough to play Barbies, she plays the family pet while the other girls fight over who gets to be the baby. Every day I am grateful for her differences, otherwise my poor five year old son would have nobody to play with!
ReplyDeleteWhat a laugh! The photos are lovely.
ReplyDeleteI understand my girls very well - it's my boy who is a total mystery to me!
That is oh so true. My stepdaughter is so much more dramatic than the boys about everything. Drama drama drama, that's what life is all about to her.
ReplyDeleteI think you pegged that pretty well. We have avoided the trampoline so far, but I'm sure my boys would try to push each other off it for fun (including DH.)
ReplyDeleteHow true. And how hysterical. I see this ALL of the time in my house too.
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny! And so true! I love it!:)
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has always immersed herself in make-believe. She would imagine perfume bottles as people/dolls and just play and play with them while I would be getting ready. Once, at a friend's Merle Norman store, my daughter (then probably 3 or 4) was just chattering away. My friend was a little concerned not knowing WHO my child was talking to. I knew.... and just smiled. The power of the imagination sets us free!
ReplyDeleteLove your post... as always. We actually have one of the net thingamabobs that surrounds our trampoline and pads that cover the springs. Hate to share this with you, but the son of a very good friend of mine fell, hit his mouth on the metal part, and knocked out many of his permanent teeth. Has had to have several surgeries and more may be needed in the future. Net and pads.... They're good things!
I don't care what ANYone says... boys are SO much easier than girls! lol
ReplyDelete(I was "big sissy" to 4 younger brothers, so I'm with you on understanding boys better too. I'm frightfully afraid of my girls growing up. rotfl)
love it, love it, love it - great post !
ReplyDeleteso funny and true -
from the youngest of ten (7 boys and 3 girls)
so true!!! as a mom of 1 boy, 3 girls and a trampoline, i can say i've had the exact same conversations.
ReplyDeleteand to think that my son's kindergarten teacher told me "there's no difference between boys and girls" -it still baffles me 4 years later... (of course she only had 1 child- apparently a very compliant daughter :) )
happy to have found your blog!