Mother of Boys, Mother of Girls

Our neighbors asked us if we could watch their little girls for half an hour or so, while they go to an appointment. We said, “Okay, send them on over.” My wife was out of the house at the appointment time, so I ended up the parent in charge. (That’s not a problem, for the record.) We went out into our backyard to play.

The girls are 5 years old and 2 years old (compared to my boys of 6 and 3). The kids started out playing on the play set, swinging, climbing, sliding, etc. Then my 6 year old wanted to play football. Over the next 20 minutes, six balls of various sports and sizes were being thrown, kicked, and caught. The 5 year old girl was game right in there with the 6 year old boy, and the 3 year old boy was trying to keep up. The 2 year old girl was calmly picking up and carrying balls outside the more active play.

I chased the kids, the kids chased me, and we had a grand time until I just needed to sit out the action. Soon, the kids all settled down to play with cars on the patio, in relative quiet. They played this way for about 10 minutes, and then they got up for more ball play.

They’d been running around for about five minutes when the girls’ mom came over to pick them up. She came into the backyard and we talked for a couple minutes while the kids continued playing. The kids would throw balls to us, run past us, and generally want to involve us in their “sport,” despite our trying to have a conversation.

It was pretty obvious, and ashamedly funny, that the girls’ mom was not used to such rambunctious activity. The throws and runs seemed to surprise her at times. My boys’ mom knows to at least keep heads up while boys are playing around her, so a ball thrown to her won’t startle her. I know I’m making a general, blanket statement based on one anecdote, and there are plenty of girls and moms of girls who don’t feel and look out of place in the middle of active outdoor play. But the scene played right to the stereotype; it looked like a sitcom.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com