Boys and Trucks

[hkellick]

I have a question. I don't know if anyone knows the answer.

Why do young boys seemed to be genetically predisposed to find big trucks (Fire Trucks, Construction Trucks, et. al.) interesting.
I was sitting at the Metro station today, waiting for the shuttle and found myself watching the construction equipment. The crane grabbed dirt from the ground and dumped it in a dump truck. I marveled, somewhat, at man's technological prowess to build what essentially amounts to a bigger, but fairly efficient, shovel.
I remember when I was younger, my brother Marc and I could be no more alike than peanut butter and plantinum. He thought construction equipment and mack trucks were the best thing ever, but I thought fire trucks were the best thing ever.
I was probably four or five when I first decided fire trucks were the best ever. I don't know if this is society at work since I don't think I watched much, before I was five, but kid's television: Sesame Street, Muppet Show, The Electric Company and various Disney cartoons.
So.. I dunno. IS It a genetic predisposition? I have to wonder.
Discuss!

Comments

[peachtess.livejournal.com]

Thats the Nature vs. Nurture arguement. Scientist have been argueing it for years now. Its a huge issue in child development. There have been some interesting studies involving indentical twins where they follow a set that was seperated by birth (not by them but by adoption agencies) and compare what is the same and what is different about them. The answer always seems to be a bit of both for nature vs nurture. So now the arguement is just how much of each. Is it 20/80, 50/50, or maybe even 70/30? We just don't know.
Its an interesting debate and worth reading up on.

[lite.livejournal.com]

I am aware of this debate. I realize that I didn't put my thoughts in terms such that that was obvious, but I am.

Really, the question was... I'm not sure Big Trucks is something society teaches 4 and 5 year old boys to love. At least not if they watch the programming I was, and yet... I know many who do.
So.. if it IS nature.. why? And what, specifically?

[peachtess.livejournal.com]

Society does teach boys that trucks are for boys. Its not a big flashing neon sign but its there. Look at boys clothing at a store, especially the infant toddler wear, it all has "boy" themed items on them like trucks, bugs, fire engines, etc. Girl clothing has butterflies, flowers, and cutesy stuff. Also the same goes for childrens programs. Its again not a flashing neon sign. A simple thing like a scene where some boys are playing with trucks in a sandbox can have a big impact and don't forget those toy comericals. I've never seen a girl in a commerical for some truck or such. Unless your watching for it you won't notice it. I'm sure on your first birthday you got "boy" themed toys before you were old enough to express an interest in things like trucks. Most of us go around blind to how society programs us. I was frankly amazed at how blind I was to it when I took Culteral Diversity in college shortly before moving to Antigua.

[phoenixsong]

Well, I don't think there's a sex-linked gene for trucks that goes with Y-chromosomes s:) I don't think it's even explicitly teaching boys "trucks good, dolls bad."

I do think, however, [WARNING: THIS IS A GENERALIZATION, IT IS NOT DIRECTED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR!] that boys are encouraged to figure out how things work, and how to take things apart and put them together again -- more so than girls. Which is a subtle way of giving boys an appreciation for how something works. A girl (like me) might just look at it and say, "OK, well, it's a truck, it's pushing dirt around, big deal" -- looking more at what it does rather than how it works.

Then again, maybe some people just like dirt and trucks, and some people like something smaller and more intricate like computers s:) I never really cared much about how trucks worked, even though I really liked playing with sand. But when I got a little older and grasped what electronics were, or even basic gears (like a cuckoo clock), I was fascinated and wanted to know everything about how they worked.

So I don't really think trucks are a boy thing. I think it's more a matter of how much a child has an aptitude for, or is taught to appreciate, form and/or function.

[phoenixsong]

Hmmm...but peachtess is right, too. Boy stuff starts in with trucks pretty early, right along with "snips and snails and puppy dog tails," while girls get..."sugar and spice and" WTF is that all about?

But I think that does also relate to the point I was trying to make: IN GENERAL, I think girls are taught to look for an object's function and how it relates to them, while boys are taught to look at form -- how and why something works, aka the "cool!" factor.