Boys Will Be Boys

1 Pages 362 Words

Barbara Kantrowitz and Claudia Kalb’s, “Boys will be Boys” article, explains how after years of research on girls, boys must also be put under the microscope, in efforts to reach a further understanding of the adolescent male. The two authors start their article by pointing out, that boys and girls come from two completely different “planets”. They have two different “crisis points”, which are stages of emotional and social development, where things can go seriously wrong. Kantrowitz and Kalb both feel that boys need more attention because they are the ones who are more likely to have discipline problems at school and most likely to commit violent crimes and end up in jail. In the article Kantrowitz and Kalb use many interesting studies, and statistics, to help the reader understand the difference between boys and girls. A study that caught my eye is the one that was done by the Children’s Hospital in Boston, where boy babies are proven to be more emotionally expressive than the girls who tend to be more reflective. This was picked up when the researchers noticed that for the most part the boys would cry when they were unhappy, whereas the girl babies would suck their thumbs. Out of this study came the conclusion that girls innately could be more able to control their emotions. Later on in the article, Kantrowitz and Kalb go on to explain how boys are forced to shut down positive emotions, and that this could lead to the only one socially acceptable outlet; anger. Another big difference that is pointed out by the authors is that boys and girls develop physically and intellectually at very different rates. Either way Kantrowitz and Kalb make it apparent that in both sexes a strong parental bond is vital. Parents can do many things including teaching their children by example. Specifically with boys, they can channel their son’s energy into constructive activities like sports, and encouraging qualities such as empathy. ...