There was a playground in a nearby town where I took my son to play.  I sat at a table and read or wrote while he played.  Typically I was the only man present.

On this particular day four women were conversing at the table next to me.  Suddenly a girl who appeared to be about four ran to the table crying.  She’d fallen down.  Her mother hugged her, then scooped her up onto her lap.  The other women all reached over to touch her as they offered words of comfort.

It took less than a minute for the child to stop whimpering.  She was resting quietly on her mother’s lap when a boy who appeared to be about three came to the table crying.  He’d fallen down and scraped his knee.  His mother, the same woman who’d comforted her daughter, brushed the mulch off his knee, which was bleeding slightly.

His sister watched from the comfort of her mother’s lap as the woman told her son to stop acting like a crybaby and to go play.  He wiped the tears from his eyes, then stood there a moment looking at his sister before turning and solemnly walking back towards the playground.  None of the other women at the table offered a single word or gesture of comfort to the boy.

Children learn the rules of behavior from their parents, particularly from their mother.  Boys and girls are different.  Social conventions reinforce this throughout the child’s education.  Even at my age I’m still not sure; are we different but equal, or just different?