Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Individual brilliance

At a baby shower on the weekend, we meet up with my friend and her daughter. Baby O is two months older than my son, and seems precocious in her language skills by comparison. She has charming manners and plays her part in routine niceties (please, thank you), can point to a dozen body parts, and is aware of others. She readily imitates words, can nearly count to three, and switches back and forth from Cantonese and English. She's a doll in her party dress among the doting ladies.

Meanwhile, my son is doing what he does best, exploring the environment and problem solving with objects. He is continually active: tearing a plastic cup into three jagged pieces, trying to open every door in the house, picking up all dropped pens and clutching them in his mouth, looking under the rug, attempting to swipe the other toddlers' snacks, ripping paper to shreds...AND eating with great gusto considerably more food than some of the portion-conscious guests.

Though his counterpart's verbal skills are impressive, I am reminded that my child's attentions have a different focus, and the only thing to do is promote his strengths, ensure he at least keeps up in other areas, and give him all the opportunities to be, as they say, all that he can be.

And yes, gender may be a factor in these observed differences.

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