Tuesday, April 29, 2008

My own social experiment

You know how you have more than one child so they can play with each other while you blog or talk on the phone? Sometimes that backfires and they fight more than play and you get very angry because that makes it hard to talk on the phone. But usually it works out. Well, here at our house I had a very special time of day where Ethan would go to his little neighborhood preschool and Noelle would nap. And it happened at the SAME TIME. This hour and a half was known as bliss. However, Noelle no longer naps in the morning and this hour has turned into not-so-much-bliss. I try to get lots accomplished and she tries hard to make sure I don't. So today I changed my focus and let her help me with my experiment of the social sciences.

It began with this bag of shoes:
We are the recipients of lots of castoffs from generous family and friends. Thus we have this bag of shoes that would enable Noelle to wear a different pair everyday. Notice how they are definitely girl shoes. Noelle loves to get in the bag and pull the shoes out. But when I tell her to bring some shoes to wear when we are actually going somewhere she brings me these: Noelle did her own hair so don't judge, OK?

These are obviously sandals from her older brothers. This led me to conduct my own social experiment to decide if she would choose male oriented things over female oriented things. I am very qualified to conduct such an experiment because I took a few sociology classes in college to boost my GPA.



Test #1: Babies versus T-Rex.


Results:

Hands down T-Rex won. But because I have a scientific mind I realized this result might be somewhat misleading. She may only have preferred the T-Rex because it is Mitch's and he keeps it on his bed and he closes the door so she never gets to play with it (unless Mitch isn't home and I pull it out so she can play with it like the naughty mom I sometimes am) So I moved on to Test #2:


Pushing a dump truck or a baby stroller.


Results:

Yes, ten minutes later Noelle had still not touched either toy. She was too busy doing this:Climbing up and down the same chair was apparently more appealing than having my test completed. I know lots about conducting research and you are not supposed to coerce your subjects into participating. So that was the end of it. I guess I will never be published in one of those research magazines that nobody reads except the people who are actually published in them.

My personal feelings on the matter are that Noelle is a definite girl surrounded by lots of boy things and boy behaviors. If she is lucky she will turn out like me (who had a very hard childhood with seven older brothers who tried very hard to corrupt me) and be the perfect combination of all good things male and female. And I will have you know I was able to type up this very long social experiment because Mitch and Ethan are both home now and entertaining Noelle for me. How do parents of a single child get anything done?

11 comments:

hOLLIANN said...

Don't worry if you just ripped on my sociology degree - not only was it the easiest - but also the shortest (3 year graduation). I hurried to graduate so I could go to beauty school (a deal with my parents) - and look where I am now - Screwed up with a bad hair do! Ha! Ha!

Sherie Christensen said...

How exactly did your older brothers try to corrupt you? I know that when we got a boy Der outlawed having him put in a dress, or having his nails painted, or playing with barbies. He loved those high healed dress up shoes though.

Sherie Christensen said...

Hmm. I mean Connor loved those high healed dress up shoes not Derek. Always reread your message before hitting that "publish your comment button".

Diana said...

She may like to play with dinosaurs, but look at her now---she's got big hair! No one would mistake her for a boy, and isn't that all you've ever really wanted?

The Allreds said...

If Noelle needs a girly example send her our way...Sara would be happy to tutor!
I know Noelle runs the other way when she sees Sara, hopefully one day Noelle will realize Sara's heart IS in the right place, it's those cletching hands that cause the grief!

cold cocoa said...

Time to start giving the girl better options! Splurge and buy some dress ups and barbies. Who knows- she could be your only girl so live her up! And Sherie, the boys did corrupt the girls. They didn't encourage our girl-hood. For me, I didn't get to abandon myself to my feminine wiles as much as I wish I could have. Sigh..

lkm said...

I think this social experiment was probably skewed due to Noelle wearing her brothers' hand-me-down overalls. Surely when wearing her brothers' old clothes she will be more likely to play with their old toys.

LC said...

I think you got the best of both worlds. You are athletic, practical, easy going but you can also pull off a cute polka dot skirt and fun hair. Noelle will probably follow suit.

Megz said...

Wow. Thanks LC! That, my friends, is why I have a blog. So I can goad people into complimenting me. And LKM has commented twice now! He does love me.

hOLLIANN said...

Nice gorilla pic, but I would have to say that you would only look like that if you were pregnant with quadruplets - not that I am wishing that on you - but I would get a good giggle.

TisforTonya said...

I never get anything done when it's just Maryn here... and that doesn't make ANY sense to Quinn at all! (read me a book Mom, again Mom, again Mom, and a snack, no, I want Mac and Cheese, or a granola bar, not that granola bar a peanut one, read the book again...)
Haven and Trevor just got home so life is good, at least until I have to leave in 20 minutes!