the other part

I'm a nanny to two boys this summer, brothers ages 6 & 8. They are happy, well-adjusted kids who love Legos, Star Wars action figures, and wrestling each other. It's a joy to spend time with them; sometimes I feel just as I did as a big sister to my two younger brothers.

What has struck me about spending hours and hours with them is their interest-bordering-on-obsession with gender differences. This, of course, is developmentally appropriate so some gender definition is bound to happen. They say things like, "Girls don't like to get their clothes dirty," and "Boys don't have to do the cooking." I find this interesting in part because their parents don't fit these stereotypes- they're both fluid and fairly equal in their roles as far as I can tell. I find myself wanting to point out how the boys' generalizations aren't always true, just so the boys are able to be flexible in believing what all people are capable of. So I often say things like, "When I was a girl, I liked to play in the mud," or "Your dad made really good fajitas last night!"

And with this background, I present to you the Case of the Possum Playing Dead. When I arrived early in the morning, I found the boys tearing around the yard. They began talking about the beach, which led to a discussion about hunting for golf balls (don't ask me how we got there), which then reminded the younger child about a rock hiding in the bushes a couple houses down. They ran to the bush, poking around for this elusive rock that I MUST see. Suddenly, a shout went up, and hands were up and waving me over.

"It's a possum... and it's DEAD!" said the younger brother.

"No, it's not. It's just pretending to be dead. I bet if we poked it, it'd move," replied the older.

I stepped in, envisioning us all being attacked by a frightened, wild animal. I told them I didn't think we should bother it and instead head back to the house. Thankfully, they agreed. As we walked away, the younger boy suggested that we tell his father about the animal. Part of me struggled- shouldn't I be a good role model of how women can take care of these things?- but the other part was fully on board with letting their father deal with it! I went with the other part.

Dead possums are icky.