Middle and Youngest daughters asked me to come outside and play 'baseball' with them tonight. It is a big plastic bat and a grapefruit-sized plastic ball and an elaborate set of rules regarding balls, strikes, fouls, and how to advance base runners.
For some reason, the daughters run the bases still carrying the bat. I noticed that YD used the bat to touch the bases rather than actually making contact with her body. When I mentioned it after she got a hit she ran back to first base, got tagged out, and then ran in the front door crying. *sigh*
I can remember playing my first ball games as a kid in Northeast Philly where I lived until I was 10. We played in the middle of the street using manhole covers as second and home while parked cars filled in for first and third. We also played, occasionally, in an abandoned lot chock full of crumbled concrete, asphalt, and broken glass.
If a ball went down the sewer we took turns being lowered down by our feet to retrieve it. We got cut, bruised, fought each other over calls, played until dinner time and I honestly don't remember any one ever crying.
Posted by bbarton at April 14, 2005 07:48 PMThis is just based on me and the people I know, so it's a pretty tiny sample and I might be just inflating giant stereotypes here (I apologise if that's the case). I think boys generally get openly angry or frustrated when they're angry or frustrated, but girls (and I don't know why) tend to keep that to themselves and dissolve into tears instead.
Posted by: Deirdre on April 15, 2005 07:57 AMReading your post, I'm reminded of a quote from Tom Hank's character in A League of Their Own: "There's no crying in baseball!"
Posted by: You Who's wife on April 15, 2005 08:48 AMThis was more a recognition of the differences between boys and girls, Antipo. I'm always trying to navigate an emotional mindfield that can change at a moment's notice. LOL Which makes Deirdre's point especially valid. I'd rather deal with a bloody nose from a fight that is done and over than a broken-hearted princess.
YW's Wife...that is a perfect quote! I can remember the scene and the look on his face when he said it.
Posted by: Bob on April 15, 2005 10:01 AM
Yeah, but you were not GIRLS!
Posted by: Antipodeesse on April 15, 2005 12:58 AM