How shocking! We are different! Jul 24 '00    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Several days ago I watched a show on the Discovery Channel about the differences between men and women. The startling conclusion, which all these educated scientists were attempting to educate us, the ignorant viewers of, was that men and women are different - biologically, emotionally, and in many other ways. Startling, isn't it? I must have looked like an idiot as I stared at the TV, with a look on my face that said, "What rock have you been hiding under?". Apparently, someone somewhere has spent millions of dollars trying to either prove or disprove this fact. And now the shocking evidence is in - we really are different. So, boys and girls are different and this seems to upset, and come as a surprise, to some people. Some believe that children's personalities and identities are created due to conditioning, their surroundings, the toys they are given, or the colors they are dressed in. There is just much more to our personalities than this! Certainly these things might influence us, but God made men and women intrinsically different and even added the obvious biological differences. And now scientists are finding startling evidence of other differences that explain why boys are generally more aggressive than girls and why girls are more emotional that boys. I don't know why God found these differences to be necessary, but I sure celebrate, and marvel, at those differences in my kids, Adam and Katie. And many of their obvious differences are down right comical! Adam's favorite color is blue. He loves blue furniture, blue clothes, blue houses, blue toys, Blue's Clues, and mostly blue food! Do you know how many foods come in blue? These is blue jello, kool-aid, cereal, cookies, ice cream, fruit snacks, corn chips, popsicles, and even applesauce. I didn't teach him to love blue. He did that all on his own. I didn't push either trucks or dolls on him, but the trucks, loud noises, sports obsession and unending energy have somehow won out. He even tells me that pink is a girl color and that "Madeline" is a girl TV show. I bought Adam a doll once. He wanted to use it's head for a ball. However, he also loves to play with pretend food and dishes and takes care of his stuffed animals as I care for his sister (he even used to pretend to nurse his teddy bear!) He's a sweet, sensitive, wild little boy, exactly as God designed him to be. Ten months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. After fighting infertility for two years, I was thrilled, and started my quest for everything girl! One problem! I HATE pink! It looks awful on me and makes my teeth hurt. So, I had to work around my dislike. Katie's room is basically yellow and is decorated with antique furniture and dolls with white eyelet bedding. I scoured the city for "girlie" looking bottles and toys which were not pink. At my baby shower I received only on pink item - my friends know me well! Then one day I took my precious little darling out in public, and this is what I heard. "He's just adorable. How old is he?". I was probably being overly sensitive, but my heart sunk. I tried not to take it personally. Katie was dressed in her brother's overalls after all. So I started dressing her in cute pastels covered with flowers, bows, ladybugs, heart and ruffles. Still I heard, "He's just precious!" UGGH!!!! I gave up and pulled out the pink outfit. And you know what? She looked amazingly beautiful in it, with her dark eyes and hair! And no one ever mistakes her for a boy anymore! So now I'm really starting to love pink because Katie makes it look so good! We now have a house full of pink dresses, baby dolls and hair bows. Maybe I shouldn't be so sensitive about what sex a total stranger thinks she is, but I am a new mother after all (with all those hormones surging through my body after all - that God put in me and not in men!). Katie is only ten months old, so it's hard to tell if she's going to be a stereotypical little girl or not. I really don't think that pushing pink on her now will change who she was created to be deep inside. At this point she loves to cuddle, she is very sensitive to the tone of my voice, loves shopping, and is obsessed with shoes (that's my girl!). Her newest obsession is anything with wheels. She rolls a toy bus around on the floor for hours! She's into EVERYTHING and couldn't care less about her dolls or stuffed animals. She is a lot more wild at ten months, than Adam ever thought about being at that age! So, Adam is into blue and mostly everything boy, and Katie is mostly pink and sugar and spice and they are both delirious happy children. Are kids personalities influenced the toys we buy them or the colors we happen to dress them in? Maybe, but so what? Are they loved and brought up to be respectful people? That is what count! And with that love they will grow to be the men and women, with all those differences, that God created them to be, no matter what they play with or wear. Our kids personalities are hard wired into them while they are still living inside of us. As parents, it our job to nurture and guide them into begin the best individuals that they can be - not to push them into what we think they should be.

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