Predestined by gender?

Is it nature? Or nurture? I couldn't help but notice that my last two blog posts highlight my children in rather stereotypical gender roles. Sydney, at 20 months, is happily playing "house", while AJ, at age 4, is making career plans.

Am I shaping my children's future by treating them differently, or encouraging them to play with certain toys? I don't think it's the latter. AJ loves to cook with me. He's the one who likes to pretend he's doing it in a restaurant setting. And certainly we've given Sydney plenty of dolls and girly toys, but she also has access to all of AJ's trucks and dinosaurs. She's the one who prefers the princess teacups.


But then something happened Friday night, that made me question again. As I was doing some cleaning and dusting, Sydney happily followed me around with her own Clorox wipe, wiping down anything she could find.

And then I looked out into the living room. There sat AJ, just as fascinated as Daddy, watching what I've mockingly dubbed "the orange-haired lady movie."

Grandpa David probably knows what movie I'm talking about - the Bruce Willis flick, The Fifth Element. He's watched it plenty of times with Jeff. Probably while I was following Grandma Elouise around, cleaning.

Nature? Or nurture? hmmmmm....