Backstory – How Do Boys Know?
So much discussion these days about gender identity. In my childhood, your identity as a girl was well defined. You were to learn and have domestic skills. Fortunately I was also born during a time that women were coming into their own in other areas too. And society no longer insisted that we hold one or two roles and no other.
My other good fortune was being born to parents who assured me I could do anything, be anyone and seek happiness in this land of the free. When I tried something new and failed, they were there to provide a soft landing. When I tried and won, they cheered. Through falls and errors and triumphs, they were my biggest fans.
Career-wise, it helped to know early-on what I wanted to do. I would use words to make my way in the world – first writing, then speaking, then writing and speaking. It all evolved naturally, starting with that first published story, when I was seven years old.
So although I did fine as a girl, it always intrigued me about the boy and the things that they knew. I’m aware of where and how I learned my girl things, but how was the opposite sex educated in the manly arts?
The issue followed me right into a Consider This writing session – and here is the episode that resulted.
Consider This Show – How Do Boys Know?
Click to listen or follow below to read.
Boys seem to know how things work. I have noticed that all my life.
I don’t know how things work. Wish I did. But somehow my interests have never led me to find out. The lights go on when I turned the switch. I don’t need to know how or why. The house sits up straight on its foundation. I can believe in that without knowing the physics behind it.
But boys are not satisfied with that. From an early age, they have to take it apart, see how it works and put it back together again. Sometimes they get good at it; sometimes not.
I used to be amazed at how my husband knew how to fix a drain or wire a lamp. I am still amazed at how my son can operate all the lenses and filters and stuff on his professional cameras. They know how to change tires, how to put furniture together, how to make broken things work again.
I don’t remember seeing his father teach those things to his son, or his father teaching them to him. Yet somewhere along the way, the boys all learned.
I’ll bet I could learn all those things, if I really tried. I once installed a door lock, just by following the pictures on the packaging.
But if I knew how to do those things, then they would expect me to do them. Well, that would not be smart. I will just let this tradition or illusion remain on the books
Hey guys, look what needs fixing. Come to my rescue!
[Show #479]