Boys Girls

Not a new observation, but boys and girls very are different.  Yesterday I had six kids between the ages of 4 and 6 at my house.   3 boys and 3 girls.  They all played together for a little while and then they began drifting off into their own teams, the boys went off to the backyard – to the tree fort, the tools and bamboo sticks – while the girls stayed in the front yard with the bikes and scooters.  From the front yard came screaming, from the back came the sounds of sticks being hit together in battle.   The girls set up a gas station, drove around and did errands.  The boys battled enemies and worked on fortifying the fort.  When the boys ventured back to the front yard there were collisions and cars that needed to be repaired.   When the girls went in the backyard the boys started roaring and throwing balls at them.  The girls screamed, fought back for a while and then just walked away.  The boys were not ready to end the battle and followed the girls back to the front yard.  Jumped on the cars and in front of the bikes, trying as hard as they could to get the girls to re-engage in battle.  The girls screamed, fought a little more, then walked away again, this time to go inside and get out the dress-up  clothes.  The boys returned to the battles in the backyard while the girls began playing a very elaborate game of house.  Throughout the afternoon the kids would occasionally break from their group to go play with the other group, or all the kids would come together for a little while, but for the most part the boys stuck together as did the girls.  They were ok playing with the other “team” for a bit, but they definitely preferred the playing style of their “own kind”