posted November 27, 2013 08:02 PM
Their courage to believe in themselves. Today I saw little boys on their bikes and one tried to pop a wheelie over the curb and crashed into the street. Much like a cat he adopted an absurdly hilarious pose of "I meant to do that." And then the other boys were like "Wait, I have to try!" 
There's something charming as well as hilarious about that to me, and reminds me of this from the Princess Bride:
"We’ll never survive!"
"Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has."
By boys I primarily mean preteen, though they can be older. It's best when they're small because they're excused for not having any sense and their bodies are still more soup than solid (so they have the potential to heal from anything in record time though I still wished the boys I just saw were at least wearing helmets), but I do understand why boys need parents (at least good ones).
Of course I realize girls can be reckless that way, too, but it seems very rare to be the same kind of recklessness. I was a tomboy who ran with boys and more than once I didn't jump in after the boys (though I did sometimes). And as I got into my teens and started skateboarding I was more about doing it right even if I did take risks while many of the boys were more about showing off how brave/stupid/awesome they could be (ironically I probably could've pulled some of their stunts off even better simply because I focused on the basics a lot more, but I didn't care to). Generally speaking it's like comparing vanilla to chocolate, there's just a different flavor there, possibly because girls tend to be more self conscious about looks (which scrapes, bruises, and torn clothes can hinder) while boys have to show they can "take a punch." But don't think I'm asserting some "universal truth" here.
Lindaland
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posted November 27, 2013 08:02 PM
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