Boys Will Be Boys

from: Stephanie

This picture was taken when I was babysitting my 2 year old cousin, Kyle. Every time I baby-sit him we have a special routine that his mother likes me to follow. He eats, he plays, and then he goes to bed. I looked at this babysitting opportunity as the perfect chance to see first hand how mothers and fathers play the biggest role on socializing their children. In Kyle's case, its not just the parents, there are two teenage boys that live in the same house as Kyle, and some of their behaviors are picked up on and acted out by Kyle. From their clothes to their toys, children are taught at an early age what is appropriate for them to wear and to play with. While playing with Kyle I noticed that every single toy he was playing with was a toy that boys as a "gender group" would play with. I went through his toys and there was not on single so called "girlie" toy in the bunch. Kyle didn't have a choice in what he was given to play with. His mom and other people in his life gave him those toys and he was taught by those people how he should play with those toys. Keeping this in mind, I observed Kyle while he played. He was holding the car in his hand and he was making the typical vroom- vroom car noise. Then he walked over to the castle that I had built with his blocks and he put his car on the floor and pushed it with full force into the castle. Watching the castle fall to the floor, he started to laugh and jumped up laughing with excitement. This is not the first time that I have witnessed Kyle act out in such a way. Boys at a young age are taught a destructive nature. How to be a tough "manly man". They grow up thinking that its cool to act out in such a way. when in reality it just leads to a violent and destructive future.