Sydney is not quite 3. She is smart as a whip, has an
incredible vocabulary for her age, is extremely klutzy and a “girly” girl to
the Nth-degree.
Tyson is 15 months old. He is rambunctious, says only a few
words, seems uninterested in learning and can climb a set of stairs faster than
I can walk them.
Can you predict your kid’s future in the first couple years
of life? Will these traits follow them into their teens? Is Sydney destined to
be a bookworm and the last kid picked in gym class? Will Tyson be the star
athlete who can’t score enough on his SATs to play in college?
I’m asking. Please weigh in, veteran parents.
I realized that what I have just described is stereotypical
of boys and girls. But this has to be more than that, doesn't it?
Sydney can carry on a conversation like an adult. In fact, she talks TOO much. She is sometimes like Robin Williams on crack. Or Robin Williams when he wasn’t on crack.
She loves to have a book read to her. She has a great
memory. She puts things together quickly. After two readings of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she started to call her oatmeal “porridge.”
It has always been like this. She could say a couple dozen
words at a year old and she knew her ABCs and how to count to 20 by 18 months.
I don’t know how she compares to most kids. I do know of the
few we regularly encounter, she seems ahead of them intellectually.
She’s also a grade-A, Jerry Lewis-like klutz. She falls a
lot, runs funny, can’t even position her hands right to catch a ball and will
fail to find something that is six inches from her feet, despite detailed
directions.
She appears to have zero athletic ability. She’d fit right
in with the gang from The Big Bang Theory.
We face a big decision with her – her birthday is Aug. 30.
She turns 3 this year, but in a couple more it will be 5. I have no doubt she
will intellectually be ready for kindergarten. But will she be physically?
She will be the youngest and probably the smallest – she is
petite – in her class. I worry not about kindergarten, but later years. Will
she be the last person picked on the playground? Will she have trouble standing
up to bullies? Will she be a terrible athlete who could benefit from being
older than her classmates as opposed to younger?
She also is as girly-girl as you can get. She wants her
toenails painted and she wants to wear princess dresses. She would definitely
be Blair Warner and not Jo Polniaczek if she lived in Mrs.
Garrett’s house and was learning the facts of life.
Meanwhile, Tyson is the opposite. The kid doesn’t say many
words -- in fact, he prefers to communicate in grunts -- has little interest in being read to and seems to shun all intellectual
endeavors.
But does he like to motor. Never wants to sit still. He’s a Tazmanian
Devil.
He's the reason baby gates were invented. He wants to climb every step he sees and do it in record
fashion. He literally laughs as he crawls up.
The other day, he started wrestling his older, and much
bigger, sister, tackling her to the ground and climbing on top of her. The kid
just learned to walk and he’s already tackling people like he is in the WWE.
He’s fearless. It is not unusual for us to find a big red
knot or welt on his head or face and have no idea how it got there. I’ve even
considered calling child welfare on the wife, but then we’ll see him run into a
wall or chair or something and it becomes evident how they made their way to his noggin.
When I read to him, he grabs the book out of my hand and
turns the pages himself, throws it on the ground or tries to tear the pages
apart. He has as much interest in books as Snooki.
So, is this them? Do kids maintain the same traits they show
in the first couple years throughout their lives?
More importantly: is there something I can do to head these
things off? I want both of my kids to be
well-rounded. What can I do to ensure that?
Is this a nature vs. nurture debate? I’m not sure.
Weigh in veteran parents. Tell me how your children changed
or remained the same from when they were toddlers. I’m interested.