And we wonder how our roles in life are defined?

My husband and I took Mateo to the park on Friday morning. We headed to a small playground so Mateo could experience his first swing fun. The playground was overfilled with tons of children, probably about ages 4-6, from some school or daycare. Many of the kids were in the sandbox with blue plastic picnic cups, although I'm not sure why except for the fact that they could easily use the cups to throw sand at each other. Well, at least, that's what my adult brain would think they'd be doing.

When the big yellow school bus arrived to whisk them all back to where they came from, the adults told all the kids to line up by class. Most of the kids ran to the adults; about five boys stayed in the sandbox to kick up sand and create a massive sand storm. This was probably something they wanted to do since they got there.

Finally the boys ran to the adults. The next time I glanced up, about 5 girls were running back to the sandbox. When they got there, they started picking up the blue cups all the kids left behind. Just like dutiful little girls should.

So the boys that were just in there, kicking up the sand, couldn't pick up the cups, but the girls, who were already in line (another proper thing girls do), had to go back and get them all.

And people wonder how gender differences start?

I, for one, wouldn't have ran back to pick up the cups. And if I was told to, I would have done so with a very bad attitude. An internal bad attitude, but a bad attitude nonetheless.