Writing Reams and Girl Traits

I sure get a kick out of the torrent of paper rained down on me throughout the day by our five-year-old girl. 

In any given day, Mary will produce . . . 

A word search! Have some time to pass? She's got a word search for you to complete.

A list of the birthdays in our family! Just so we don't forget the order in which they will come.

A To Do List for Friday! There are so many activities of which to keep track.

And several pictures every day, including sometimes teaching her three-year-old sister how to draw.

Mama reading a book while seated in a chair next to a berry bush which is in front of a tree, with the sun shining overhead.

Mama reading a book while seated in a chair next to a berry bush which is in front of a tree, with the sun shining overhead.

I have experience with only one boy so far, now nearly eight, but he is nothing like this in regard to writing. His skills of exhibiting constant humor, entertaining, and possessing burbling physical energy that never dissipates are harder to capture in sweet blog posts. I certainly see the same sort of boyish expressions among the many boys in our homeschooling co-op and community.

It is an interesting meditation for me to remember that what are considered typical girl skills--like Mary at five being able to sit still for an hour or more, quietly entertaining herself, writing reams of letters--are valued at this age because they are easy for the parents and school teachers, not because they are objectively always desired behavior. What are considered typical boy behaviors aren't nearly so valued at these young ages because the burbling energy that can run a farm, fight a battle, or move mountains does not sit still in a school desk for more than 27 seconds. The entertaining banter and joke-telling that prattles on all day without stopping, whether it's an appropriate time or not, may well fit the politician who needs an enormous reservoir of charisma to run this country, but it sure is distracting at the dinner or school table. The sensory needs for rough-and-tumble play and wrestling will one day allow that grown man to be tough, to defend his family, to pull the plow, to do the 12-hour car drives, or to complete all the yard labor of a suburban home currently but currently cause the boy never to cease wrestling his brother, even during sit-still-it's-story-time or calm-down-we're-walking-into-Mass-time. These male traits are a challenge right now and it's so easy for a mother (by her nature female!) to see them only as problems to be corrected especially in comparison to the quiet and still little girl (whose own traits will need correcting and molding into adulthood!).

Note to self!