Throwing ice balls like a boy*

Maybe it’s because Erin throws shot put and discus in track. She’s stronger than she realizes, throws harder than she thinks. Emma came in from playing in the melting snow/ice crying because she’d been hit in the face with a hard-thrown snow/ice ball. As I was unloading and loading the dishwasher yet again after getting lunch in the oven, I was reminded of a winter day many years ago. Everett and I hadn’t been dating for long. Our young love reveled in things like taking walks in the moonlight, talking til the wee hours of the morning about “life”, and playing in the snow. And then he threw the ice ball. And through my tears, I asked the age old question “why do boys play so rough???”. I have since become jaded. I won’t play games with boys/men that have the potential to be rough. Call me a wimp.

I have more Spring Break to post about, but this post was screaming to be posted today :)

*I try not to generalize about people, regarding gender or other things, but something in my life has made me believe that more often than not, boys tend to play rougher than girls. There was a time when I would have argued that this wasn't true, until I was blue in the face. Then I had kids, and raised them right next to friends raising kids, and the truth of gender differences became clear to me. There ARE ways we socialize our children to teach them to be "girlish" or "boyish" but there are clear differences too.