i think if you give a young child cars and an erector set to play with, they will develop spacial skills. navigating a car through the world, and building a 3-dimensional models tend to do that. if you give young child dolls and an easy-bake oven, they’ll develop verbal and reading skills. playing with toys that require the use of talking, and reading and following directions tend to do that.
i think that a child’s brain will develop the necessary pathways and circuits that enable those skills that you force upon it. and those pathways that are not required for those skills will atrophy. and that’s why the brains of men and women seem to differ, both in ability and scans.
i think we should start giving all children cars, dolls, erector sets, and easy-bake ovens.
I dunno. All I have is sons, but, they were different in the womb. Absolutely completely different, behaviorally, before they came out. And they haven’t made any big switches, since then.
And they have had cars, dolls (that they called Action Figures), and erector sets (that they ignored completely), but no easy-bake ovens. Because, well, we use the real oven, instead.
I think parents can do some fine-tuning, MAYBE, but really we are who we are.
Comment by Christine — February 9, 2008 @ 6:22 am
i think we treat boys and girls differently, because they are either boys or girls. and i think we do it unconsciously. and while people may have innate tendencies, and exhibit a wide degree of variation in behavior, i don’t believe that there are innate differences between boys and girls. and i think the difference we see between boys and girls in general, are differences we trained them to have, from the moment they were born.
Comment by nexy — February 9, 2008 @ 8:06 am