Frisbees and Peacock Feathers and Daft Punk

Oh man, my 7 year old had an experience yesterday that wasn't so great. It was a learning experience but also, she learned that so many boys have different personalities too.

We live on a block with lots of older boys - the family with 3 boys is very competitive, they rarely "let" anyone win and usually have to be first with everything and according to my Male Brain book, this is normal and not all at the same time. This family has 3 competitive boys that totally show their peacock feathers at all times - whereas the two other families on the block that have three children also have girls - those families are similar where there's two girls and one boy. Those boys have the opposite personalities of the all-boy family.

Last night The Monkey was playing Frisbee with the 3-boy family. The youngest is still two years older than her and so it's still a little unevenly matched but still - she WANTED to play. YAY!!! She rarely got the Frisbee and just handed it to one of the boys instead of throwing it. She tried diving for the Frisbee, she tried running for the Frisbee but still, she only got it a few times. The youngest tried to teach her how to throw the Frisbee/catch it maybe twice. Instead of walking away, The Monkey kept at it and kept trying to be included. She rocked at that.

But they totally ditched her.

And she came inside and was so disappointed. She called them jerks. I would have done that too.

So instead of saying, "Oh, man. I'm so sorry" I went the opposite direction.

I told her that the boys next door are so competitive that they're not going to "let" her get the Frisbee. They will absolutely battle it out until they get the damn Frisbee. That means that she has to work harder, stronger, and faster to be better at Frisbee and get the Frisbee before the boys can reach it. I told her that girls can do anything and if she practices, then she'll throw that Frisbee better than they can and that she'll reach that Frisbee before they can.

So then I played her Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and told her that this is what we'll listen to all summer - the song rings true for Mountain Biking, Frisbee, and everything else. If you want to be first, you need to work harder than everyone else and you need to practice.

Oy, I just hope I'm setting her up for success when she's an adult. I want her to be strong, not walk away from stuff if she's just learning HOW to do something when she's around experts.