Boys vs. Girls

Growing up in my neighborhood, there was always plenty of kids to hang out with. There was an endless supply of mischief to get into. In a three block radius of my house, there was enough boys to put together two baseball teams, and we didn't even have to invite the kids who were no good. Of course they came along, we weren't heartless, and 'yes', we even let them play. But girls were another story. As one of the older kids on the block, I had to set the precedent, and make sure girls were not invited to mess up our game. Chances are, they didn't even know how to play the game, and we didn't have time to stand around and teach them. Had to be home before the street lights came on, you know. Everyone knows they throw like a girl and hit like a girl. Well duh, they're girls. Every once in awhile, a girl, who also happened to be a good athlete, would catch our attention. When I was very young (kindergarten & first grade), I lived in the Benson area. There were two buddies I spent most of the daylight hours playing with. Trevor, who happened to be the fastest kid in our class, and Bill, who happened to live across the street. There was one house I had to pass on the way to Trevor's, and a girl named Christine lived there. She was one of the exceptions. She happened to be the third fastest kid in class, and she had a tree in her front yard we would occasionally climb. So she was allowed to join the 'He-man Woman Haters Club' for about 98% of our activities. We didn't invite her to write her name in the dirt with urine. But she could kick, throw, and run. All good qualities a young boy is looking for in a girl. But then I reached an age where girls were no longer shunned for being a girl. All of a sudden, you wanted girls to throws like girls. How else were we males to impress the opposite sex, if the girls were as good as we were? There came a day, when I left the neighborhood gang of 'boys only', and wanted to hang out with girls too. They were prettier, and didn't smell nearly as bad as the boys in the neighborhood. Dynamics changed, and I relenquished my title to the younger boys on the block. I guess it's all part of growing up. To this day, I still witness the competition between boys and girls. Having daughters, I see them challenging themselves, and boys, to do whatever boys are allowed to do, but would like to keep it among boys. It's rather amusing to see this develop, and the kids don't even realize that someday the girls won't care about the competition, and the boys will be allowed to emerge as boys, and try to impress the girls. You can't really observe this ritual, until you've gone through it yourself, and then know what you're looking for.