Boys will be boys

For privacy purposes, these are my nephews Miis.

My nephews came to Philadelphia to visit last week.  Aden is 7 (and 3/4) and Kalan is 4 (and 1/4). I quickly came to realize that little boys and little girls can be very different from each other. For 4 straight days I heard fart jokes, butt jokes and poop jokes NONSTOP. And, they explained a game - no more like a tradition - that apparently all little boys take part in, the Safety Game. The rules are very easy - when you fart, you say 'safety' before someone else calls 'doorknob.' (My nephews use 'pancake' instead of 'doorknob.') This is as far as the boys take the game, probably because they are not supposed to hit. But, I did a little research and found out on Urban Dictionary that if someone says 'doorknob' before the farter says 'safety,' everyone can punch the farter until he touches a doorknob. 

(They also play a variation of this game - when you burp you say the color of your shirt. I don't know what happens after that.)

My initial reaction to this was GROSS! I do not like to talk about poop or farts, and really think all that ought to stay in the restroom. Upon figuring out why they were saying safety so often, I immediately encouraged the boys to say 'excuse me' before they say 'safety.' (I mean, I didn't want to ruin the fun.) Of course they just ignored me, but I went on wondering why they played this gross game. Then, my brother-in-law Mike heard them playing it (so gross because that means they were farting - I think they try to fart just to play the game), and he said he used to play this game when he was a kid. When Ryan heard about it, he said that he also used to play this game. They told me this is a game that all little boys play.

Eww! I realized then that little boys and little girls are so so different. I have never even heard of this game. I'm pretty sure that boys have probably never had 'personal friend days' either. For those of you that don't know, it is an evil thing that some little girls do where one girl says that another girl is only her friend for the day and can't play with the other little girls. I never took part in this, but I am pretty sure this was used against me when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. (This one girl was jealous my of friendship with another girl, so then she made that girl stop playing with me and called it a game.) I'm pretty sure boys don't get Miss Mary Mack and similar hand clapping games.

Boys and girls are just so different sometimes. We experience and learn different things. The other day I was singing 'I Am Woman,' and I was flabbergasted when Ryan said he had never heard the song before. Flabbergasted!!! It feels a little wrong to be generalizing differences between boys and girls and then talk about the song which was the theme for International Women's Year. But, I don't really feel bad about it because I believe in women being equal, empowered and on a level playing field. I also believe in embracing out differences, and I'm not blind to see that overall, there are some differences in how boys and girls act, even if it is society's fault. Well, I guess I feel a little bad because I am perpetuating these generalization about boys and girls. I can live with feeling a little bad.