Boys vs. Girls

We have some rose plants in the front of our house. Every morning I step out of the house and pick a rose. My son (3 years old) watched me do this for a few days and then he started getting involved with the process. He likes to boss around all the time, so gradually he started suggesting and then ordering me which flower I should pick. He would point at the tiny bud rose one day and then at the big dried up rose the next day. But he never picked the one I liked. Nevertheless I wanted to encourage his interest and so tried to give some hints to pick the right flower. I told him to look for roses that just started to bloom with the petals still intact but not so closed. I also told him to try to find the closest match to my dress color. I reminded him these points everyday. But everyday he picked a big, dry flower and argued endlessly that it was prettiest of all.

One day I was tired of arguing with him. So I told him that we’ll take two – one of his choice and one of mine. Roses are pretty and they smell good too. I asked him to give it to me because I wanted to smell it. He immediately turned around to show his diaper to me. It was my mistake!! I smell his diaper to judge if he has to be changed.

We reached his school. He handed the flowers to me and said bye-bye. Another little girl in his class was curiously looking at the roses in my hand. I gave the two roses to her and asked her to take the one she liked. Without any hesitation she took the one that I chose earlier. She is younger than my son and had just started to speak few words. She didn’t have to be taught to identify the pretty flower.

I just realized that Boys are boys no matter what we teach or train them.