Nature vs. Nurture

When I grew up the Spotted Owl needed to be saved. Littering was a serious crime. Logging was done by evil, greedy people. And people believed girls and boys personalities were a matter of how we nurtured the child. We watched video's in school that seemed to support this heavily.

My daughter when young named her toy horse, "Magic Rainbow" and brushed and loved the horsie hair. My daughter carried her baby dolls with love, made sure they had blankies and plenty of rest.

So you can imagine my surprise when my 8 month old son spent a happy half an hour bashing horsies like Derby Cars. Poor Magic Rainbow lost an ear and a hoof during the friendly fire.

As a toddler, he would make the cute "vroom" sound while dishing out serious carpet burn to baby doll faces.

They started to get older, and we added two more boys to our family. Let me just say, forget the movie, boys and girls are different.

I can walk into my daughters room and smell pretty lotions and clean laundry.

The boys room? Not so much.

As a parent, I try to do as much nurturing as I can. Teaching boys that punching someone in the stomach isn't a good way to resolve a problem. And teach my daughter that not everything is worth crying about.

So I'm just saying. Nature has a serious role in all of this.