Okay, as I’ve babysat through the years I’ve found such a difference in the genders, and it is nearly in all children; yes there are the exceptions but as a whole little girls, I’ve found, are amazingly controlling. Not in a bad way, so to speak, but in a way that lets you know that they know what they like, how they want it done, and what they expect.
After noticing this; I realized that I was very much this little girl. I was always controlling my friends. I wanted things to be my way, I wanted them to be a certain way. I remember one time my backdoor neighbor, Katherine, was whispering to another little girl while I was playing over at her home, and I didn’t like it. I told Katherine that it was rude, and that you should never whisper to someone in front of another person, and that I would no longer be her friend. I never returned to her home, and I never played with her again. I was very headstrong.
I didn’t realize at the time that I would be a leader, and that was a precursor to my leadership role in life. I even organized clubs, and of course I was the leader. When I babysit little girls I find that they will tell me how to make a peanut butter sandwich, what they will wear (even at the age of 1 year). Little boys will ask you to play with them and all you have to do is play next to them; little girls you need to follow their directions with no questions, and be engaged. Play restaurant and order something they will immediately tell you that they don’t have that but will give you a list of all the things that they do have.
I hope that all families will recognize that little girls who tell you how to do things are the next best leaders in the world, and that we should never shut that down. Encourage our little girls to have a voice, to not fear their inner leadership, and that they aren’t being bossy they are learning how to be leaders.