Understanding the (Parenting) Difference Between Men and Women
Face it, men and women are different. We watch sports differently. We shop differently. And we sure do parent differently. And that's not a bad thing.
How we play: Moms are more likely to bring toys into play when they're playing with their kids, and dads are more likely to engage in rough-and-tumble play. (Now there's a newsflash for you!) The theory is that moms get enough body-to-body contact during pregnancy and breastfeeding, so they're less inclined to engage in this particular type of play than dads.
How we deal with frustration: Dads are more willing to allow kids to experience a greater amount of frustration than moms are when those children are attempting to master a particular task.
How we're the same: A now-famous study conducted by Michael Lamb of the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States showed that men and women's automatic nervous system responses to crying babies were virtually identical. In other words, moms don't have a monopoly on the hard-wiring that compels them to respond to their children's cries; dads are programmed to be nurturing, too.
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