Is it true that girls develop faster than boys? Why do boys mature later than girls?

Many parents pay attention to the fact that their girls develop faster than boys of the same age. Some parents are wary, but this phenomenon is normal up to a certain point. Let's see why this happens?

Girls' brains mature faster than boys' brains, according to Newcastle University in the UK. According to The Daily Mail, experts attribute this fact to the difference in the development of boys and girls in adolescence. The study, which was conducted by the university, involved 121 people aged 4 to 40 years. In the course of it, it was received a large number of clear images of the brain.

As it turned out, some parts of the human brain decreased as they grew older, and unnecessary connections removed between cells. This is a reflection of how the learning process proceeds in the normal mode, experts say. This "cleansing" in girls begins around the age of 10 years. At the same time, these processes in boys do not begin until they reach the age of 20.

In addition, the results of the study showed that critical, long ligaments between brain areas were still preserved. But cleaning from other connections made it possible to get a more efficient system. After this cleansing, the network reorganizes more efficiently, and it becomes easier for the brain to focus on the really important information.

When Differences Arise

Girls and boys are different from birth and develop differently too. When boys are born, they are larger than girls, they have a larger head and more weight. Of course, there are individual differences, but we will talk about the average data. Boys start walking a little later by about 2-3 months, and start talking 4-6 months later.

Neuropsychologists in the maternity hospital, recording the biocurrents of the brain of newborn children, revealed that the brain of boys and girls works differently from the very beginning.

Up to about 8 years, the hearing acuity of boys is on average higher than that of girls, but girls are more sensitive to noise, they get tired of it faster. Girls are much higher tactile sensitivity, they are more sensitive to bodily discomfort and at the same time, girls are more receptive to touching and stroking.

When playing, girls often rely on near vision: girls play with dolls, buttons in a limited space, rags, beads, they always have enough of a small corner. The fry, on the other hand, use far vision: their games are mainly based on the coverage of a large area, they throw objects into the distance, using the entire space around them. Boys need more space than girls to get full mental development. If the horizontal plane is not enough for them, then they master the vertical one: they run along the backs of sofas, they begin to climb on cabinets, hang on door frames ... Each child's mastered space is reflected in the drawings in different ways. Boys, reproducing the surroundings of their plot in drawings, show more houses, yards, squares, streets than girls. The girls' albums are filled with princesses and self-portraits, while the boys' albums are filled with cars and military battles.

The intention of nature?

How is it that the development of girls and boys is different? Scientists believe that this is the "cunning" of nature. In evolution, two opposing tendencies always fight: first: nature needs to preserve what has already been created, to fix in the species those characteristics that it needs, to pass them on by inheritance and, that is, to make descendants as similar as possible to their parents. Second: progress implies a variety of descendants, among which there will be one that will enable the species to adapt to changing conditions and expand its habitat. These two trends reunite masculine and feminine. The female sex retains in the genetic memory all the most valuable acquisitions of evolution, and the male sex easily loses old skills and acquires new ones - some of these acquisitions will definitely come in handy in the future when extreme conditions arise.

To continue the species, you need a large number of female representatives. Nature protects the female half of humanity, and the male sex will take care of itself. On the representatives of the male sex, all the innovations of evolution are worked out. That is why men have the number of beneficial mutations almost equal to harmful genetic mutations. For example, deaf boys are born somewhat more than girls with the same defect. Color blindness is also more common in males. Among children with dyslexia, strabismus, stuttering, delayed mental development several times more than boys.

The male brain is larger, more advanced in development, but less reliable and more vulnerable. Men are more responsive to any changes, both natural and social. But nature rewarded them with search behavior: so that they could survive by finding another habitat, where it is warmer and food can be found. That is why men, including boys, have a tendency to explore undeveloped spaces, various risky actions, they quickly think in difficult situations and are able to make unconventional decisions.

Who is stronger than

How do these features of the male brain structure affect the learning of boys? In preschool and younger school age Girls are much faster than boys. The speech apparatus of girls is better developed, but their thinking is more of the same type. Boys are clones to think outside the box and with interest, but because they are silent, they inner world we cannot see.

Of course, this does not mean that not a single girl will develop a new idea, but still, the main new tasks are much better solved by representatives of the strong half of humanity. And girls pay more attention to the thoroughness of the solution and the accuracy of the design. The boy is more often found custom solution mathematical problem, but they often make mistakes in calculations, which leads to bad results. Girls are more inclined to perform the same type or template tasks, but they work out the details very carefully.

Girls' speech is more fluent, they read faster and they have prettier handwriting, but the side of speech that is associated with the search (solving crossword puzzles, selecting associations) is better given to boys. Boys have a more developed spatial representation, because the performance of spatial-visual tasks requires searching. Related to this is that boys are much better girls solve geometric problems: they can mentally rotate shapes and superimpose them one on top of the other. And the representatives of the female half designate the corners and sides with letters, and then operate with letter symbols and templates-theorems.

Memo to parents

If you notice that your son is much slower in learning than he was able to older sister, poorly retells and inaccurately writes in copybook, do not panic, this is a feature male mind. It is important to note that the childhood of boys lasts a little longer. Doctors say that by the age of 7, boys are one year younger than girls of the same age by their biological age.

Boys have their own way of growing up, but since they are more focused on learning information than their peers, for them intellectual development you don't have to worry.

When teaching a son, a mother should not compare him with herself in childhood, due to such age difference. If you scold the boy, then state your wishes briefly and concisely. This is necessary in order not to overload the boy emotionally, because boys are very difficult to endure emotional stress. If you scold him for a long time and tediously, then his brain turns off the auditory canal, as a result of which the child stops learning what you want to convey to him.
Interesting

As the practice of boys, even still very tiny ones, shows, parents are less likely to pick up and scold more often than their girls of the same age. In relation to them, the speech of adults contains mostly direct instructions: "Go away, give, bring, do, stop ...". And with girls, even when they are still very young, parents talk about sensory states: “Who is this sad? I like ... Do you love? ... "

Comments: 2

There is an opinion that the typical behavior of boys and girls is laid down in childhood by parents who give their children toys that are characteristic of each sex: boys - cars and soldiers, girls - dolls, Stuffed Toys and toy dishes. However, a new UK study casts doubt on this theory. It turned out that babies themselves, without prompting from adults, choose toys that are typical for their gender.

About harm early development children, all those endless circles on modeling, increasing intelligence and mastering languages from the age of six months, they finally began to speak loudly. However, most often, experts talk in soft tones: the child will not finish playing with his parents and will lose contact with them, he will get tired, lose motivation and independence skills. Meanwhile, the problem of overemployment of children in various courses is much more serious. And excessive passion for them can be not only harmful, but also dangerous. Do you feel the difference? Eating cakes at night is harmful, but eating unfamiliar mushrooms is dangerous. So it is with early development.

A group of scientists from Pittsburgh, Berkeley and Harvard invited 32 teenagers with an average age of 14 years to study. The study took place in the imaging laboratory internal processes brain. Teenagers were placed in a scanner and listened to 30-second recordings of the voice of their mothers scolding them.

If your son learns to read and write much more slowly than his older sister, poorly retells and carelessly writes letters, do not worry, this is a feature of the male mind

When teaching their sons to read and write before entering school, many parents are surprised to notice that boys take longer to learn to read and write than girls. Why?

When Differences Arise

They are different from the very beginning and develop in different ways. Boys at birth are usually larger than girls, they have a larger head and more weight. Of course, there are individual differences, but now we are talking about average data. Boys start walking later by about 2–3 months, and start talking 4–6 months later.

Neuropsychologists, recording the biocurrents of the brain of newborn children, found that the brain of boys and girls works differently from the very beginning.

Until the age of 8, the hearing acuity of boys is on average higher than that of girls, but girls are more sensitive to noise, it tires them faster. Girls also have higher tactile sensitivity, they are more irritated by bodily discomfort and at the same time they are more responsive to touch and stroking.

Girls' games are more often based on near vision: girls play with dolls, rags, beads, buttons in a limited space, a small corner is enough for them. Boys' games are more often based on distant vision: they run after each other, throw objects into the distance, using all the space around them. Boys generally require more space than girls for full mental development. If the horizontal plane is not enough for them, they master the vertical one: they climb on the cabinets, run along the backs of the sofas, hang on the door frames ... The mastered space is reflected in different ways in the children's drawings. Boys, drawing the neighborhood of their house, show more yards, squares, streets, houses than girls. The girls fill the albums with princesses and self-portraits, while the boys fill them with cars and military battles.

nature's design

Where do these differences in the psyche of boys and girls come from? Scientists believe that this is the design of nature. Two opposing tendencies always struggle in evolution: on the one hand, nature needs to preserve what has already been created, to fix in the species those features that it needs, to pass them on by inheritance and, therefore, to make descendants as similar as possible to their parents. And on the other hand, progress implies a variety of descendants, among which there will be one who will allow the species to adapt to new conditions, to expand its habitat. These two trends embody the male and female genders. The female sex retains in the genetic memory all the most valuable acquisitions of evolution, while the male sex, on the contrary, easily loses the old and acquires the new - some of these acquisitions may come in handy in the future, at the time of the occurrence of extreme conditions.

Many female representatives are needed to continue the species. Nature "protects" the female sex, and she "does not feel sorry for" the male. On males, all the novelties of evolution are worked out. From this, men have more of both beneficial and harmful genetic mutations. For example, more deaf boys are born than deaf girls. Color blindness is also more common in men. There are more boys among children with strabismus, stuttering, dyslexia, mental retardation.

The brain of a man is larger, more advanced in development, but less reliable and very vulnerable. With all the changes - both natural and social - men suffer more. But nature endowed them with search behavior: so that they could survive by finding another habitat, where it is warmer and more satisfying. Therefore, men, including boys, are prone to exploring new spaces, risky actions, they are quick-witted in difficult situations and are able to make unconventional decisions.

Who is stronger than

How do these features of the male “device” affect the education of boys? In preschool and primary school age, girls verbally “beat” boys. Their speech is better developed, but their thinking is more of the same type. Boys think outside the box and are interesting, but because they are silent, their inner world is often hidden from us.
Of course, this does not mean that not a single girl will put forward a new idea, but all the same, boys and men solve fundamentally new tasks better. But they do not attach importance to the thoroughness of the decision and the accuracy of the design. A boy can find a non-standard solution to a mathematical problem, but make a mistake in the calculations and get a deuce as a result. Girls, like all women, are better at performing typical, template tasks, but they carefully work out the details.

Girls have more fluent speech, they read faster and write more beautifully, but the side of speech that is associated with the search (selection of word associations, solving crossword puzzles) is better for boys. Boys have a more developed spatial representation, because the performance of spatial-visual tasks requires a search. Therefore, boys are better at solving geometric problems: they mentally rotate the figures and superimpose them one on top of the other. And girls, including female teachers, designate corners and sides with letters and then operate with letter symbols and templates-theorems.

* * *

If your son learns to read and write much more slowly than his older sister did, retells poorly and writes letters carelessly, do not be upset, this is a feature of the male mind. In addition, the childhood of boys lasts longer. By the age of 7, they are younger than girls of the same age by a whole year in their biological age.

Boys have their own way of growing up, but since they more girls focused on the assimilation of information, you can not worry about their intellectual development.

Important

When a woman teaches a boy, her own children's experience, comparing yourself in childhood with him is wrong and useless. Scolding the boy, state briefly and precisely what you are unhappy with. He cannot bear the emotional stress for long. His brain turns off the auditory canal and the child stops hearing you.

Boys, even very young ones, are less likely to be picked up by their parents and more often scolded than girls. In relation to them, the speech of adults contains mostly direct instructions: "Go away, bring it, give it, do it, stop it ...". And with girls, even one-year-olds, parents talk about sensory states: “I like ... Do you love? Who is this sad…”

Marina Kirina

sz.aif.ru

Boys and girls are already born different, and every year these differences become more noticeable. But is it really that boys develop more slowly than their peers, or are they just different - with different interests, ways of thinking and abilities? Child psychologist will tell you how to raise sons and daughters, taking into account their gender characteristics.

We are so different

In an old joke, a three-year-old boy asks his parents for salt, and they exclaim in delight: “Sasha, you finally spoke! He was silent for three years! The young talent in response says: “What is there to talk about with you?” Approximately in the same way in real life development of young boys and girls.

It is believed that young ladies they begin to speak earlier, and do it fluently, non-stop, sometimes they immediately reproduce phrases and sentences. And this is indeed the case. But the point here is not the backwardness of the representatives of the stronger sex, but the fact that the brain of women is imprisoned for mastering social skills, communication, obtaining information, recognizing emotions.

From an evolutionary point of view, boys need such abilities to a much lesser extent. But the boy develops better physically and finds non-standard solutions to the tasks. For the same reason, boys are less successful in school, among them there are more three-year-olds.

The education system is largely focused on the girlish style of thinking - mastering the rules, acting according to a pattern, monotonous repetition of a task until the skill of solving it is fully mastered. But if capable boys are lucky with teachers who can captivate them with extraordinary tasks for which they need to come up with an answer, then learning proceeds no worse than girls.

The biggest differences in the maturation of heterosexual children are observed in adolescence. If earlier studies and knowledge were in the foreground, then at the age of 9-12 there is a change in the leading type of activity - communication begins to dominate.

Transitional age is almost always a hormonal storm and a crisis in self-awareness and self-perception. But the boys difficult period can last from 12 to 18 years, and in girls - from 9-10 to 15-16 years.

In fact, a high school student is already a practically formed girl, while her classmate is almost a child.

Psychologists note that during this period, peers cease to be them psychologically. And when the boy's parents can still live as before, without changing anything in their behavior and communication strategies with their son, the girls' parents are already in a completely different life situation.

Both boys and girls in the period of growing up ask the question “Who am I?”, Rebuild the system of relations. Therefore, it becomes extremely easy to lose the trust of a child, which used to be unconditional.

Previously, it was possible to tell a son or daughter what to do, what to do, give an order or read a moral. Now any attempt by parents to act according to the old scenario, with moralizing, orders and advice, is perceived by the child with hostility and only aggravates the situation.

Even boys, more prone to logical thinking, in adolescence, they stop listening to arguments, evidence, advice and suggestions ready-made solutions. Building relationships with children during the transition from childhood to adolescence can be based on new forms of communication.

Demonstrating understanding, using "I-statements" ("I'm worried when I don't know where you are", "I'm scared", "I'm tired", "I'm at a loss") will help to get closer to the child and understand how he feels and what thinks. The phrases “I understand you”, “you are angry”, “you are offended”, “you feel bad”, “you are upset”, “you don’t want to do anything” will make it clear that mom and dad really strive to be there, to empathize, which means they can be trusted, share experiences and listen to their opinion.

Girls in the making Special attention pay attention to their own appearance and attractiveness. For them, “I am beautiful” means “beautiful in general, as a person”, that is, the outer shell becomes inseparable from the content - skills and abilities, talents and abilities. The same goes for negative ratings, so psychologist Maria Lomakina advises parents to remember this feature: “It is important to refrain from critical remarks about the figure, clothes and attractiveness of the daughter. To protect the girl from rash acts, it is necessary to earn the trust of a teenager. If young girl trusts her parents, she will talk about things that concern her, make a decision, taking into account the information she received from her parents.

The boy, unlike the girl, does not perceive himself only as an outer shell. It is important for him to be successful in different areas, to have useful skills and skills. In turn, parents can help him develop responsibility and the ability to solve problems, and these skills will be useful in the future.

Psychologist Maria Lomakina notes: “Especially important during this period is communication with a father or another man, on the example of which a teenager learns to behave. Trust and authority are important to him instead of pressure and diktat of parents..

It should also be remembered that boys cannot withstand emotional stress for a long time, so sometimes it happens that with a long showdown, they simply turn off the conversation, stop listening to the moralizing of their parents. It is better to talk with them briefly and in detail, so that the consciousness has time to catch important information.

As for the reasons for the “slowdown” in the growing up of boys, there is an opinion that their childhood is dragged out, because historically active life men was much longer than women.

The period of action, adult existence, the appearance of children in women passed from 17-18 to 35-36 years, and in men this process began a couple of years later, but ended well after forty.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that a young man who has to protect his family and be responsible for the well-being of his loved ones needs to gain experience, become responsible, independent and independent. In other words, grow up. And this happens much later than at 18 years old. At the same time, it is important for a young woman to give birth to healthy children, and nature made sure that they appear as early as possible, while the body is young and full of strength.

Another theory is put forward by geneticists who claim that hormones in the boy's body stimulate physical development, struggling with those responsible for growing up and puberty. And since ancient man, and even for a modern man, the skill of obtaining food is more important, psychological development boys is a little late and begins when the child is already prepared physically.

But in any case, despite gender differences, by the age of 20-23, both boys and girls turn into boys and girls. This process most often does not need to be corrected, but rather deserves the supervision and support that only loving and caring parents can give.

Kindergarten teachers and parents with many children know that boys take longer to learn to read and write than girls. And any teacher elementary school say: in the lower grades, girls study better. Why?

They develop differently from the very beginning. Boys at birth are usually larger than girls, they have a larger head and more weight. Boys start walking later than girls, about 2-3 months later, and 4-6 months later than girls. All this is visible to parents with the naked eye.

But St. Petersburg neuropsychologists, recording the biocurrents of the brain of newborns, found that the brain of boys and girls from the very beginning works differently, so that, having analyzed the interaction of electrical potentials different areas cortex of the brain, it is possible to say with a high probability what gender the baby is.

Up to 8 years of age, hearing acuity in boys is on average higher than in girls, which are more sensitive to noise. Girls have higher skin sensitivity - they are more irritated by bodily discomfort, and they are more responsive to touch and stroking.

Girls' games often rely on near vision they lay out their wealth in front of them - dolls, rags, beads, buttons and play in a limited space: a small corner is enough for them.

Boys' games are more likely to rely on distant vision: the boys run after each other, throw objects and shoot at the target, using all the space around them. Boys generally require more space than girls for full mental development. If the horizontal plane is not enough for them, they master the vertical one: they climb on the cabinets, run along the backs of the sofas, hang on the door frames.

Drawings of boys and girls differ from the very first years. The girls fill the albums with "princesses", flowers, self-portraits, and the boys with cars, military battles, all kinds of equipment.

Boys, even very young ones, are less likely to be picked up by their parents and more often scolded than girls. In relation to them, the speech of adults contains mostly direct instructions: "Go away, bring it, give it, do it, stop it ..." And with girls, even one-year-olds, parents talk about sensory states: "I like ... Do you love? Who is this sad?.."

nature's design

What causes differences in the psyche of boys and girls?
In evolution, two opposing tendencies are always fighting: on the one hand, nature needs to fix in the species those traits that it needs, pass them on by inheritance, and make the descendants as similar as possible to their parents. And on the other hand, progress implies further changes, a variety of great-grandchildren, among which there will be one who will allow the species to adapt to new conditions, to expand the habitat.

These two trends embody the male and female genders. The female retains in the genetic memory all the most valuable acquisitions of evolution, while the male, on the contrary, easily loses the old and acquires the new. The female sex is focused on survival, male - on progress.

To continue the species, many female representatives are needed, therefore nature “protects” them, and she “does not feel sorry for the male”. On male individuals, as it were, all the novelties of evolution are being worked out. Men have more beneficial and harmful mutations. There is evidence that for every 100 deaf girls, 122 deaf boys are born. There are more boys among children with strabismus, stuttering, dyslexia, mental retardation. And speech therapy groups of kindergartens consist mostly of them.

The brain of a man is larger, more developed, but less reliable and very vulnerable.
With all the changes - both natural and social - men suffer more. But nature endowed them with search behavior so that they could survive by finding another habitat, where it is warmer and more satisfying. That is why men of any age, from young to old, are prone to the development of new space, risky actions, they are quick-witted and in difficult situations are able to make unconventional decisions.

Who is stronger than

As these male features affect boys' learning? At preschool and primary school age, girls have better developed speech, but thinking is more of the same type. Boys, as a rule, think outside the box and are interesting.

In the 1st grade, one of the gymnasiums conducted such an experiment. The scientists asked the children what bricks can be used for. The first answer lay on the surface: to build a house. Then the girls took the initiative: you can also build a barn, a garage, a fence. When the topic of construction was exhausted, the boy gave a voice: "When mother salts mushrooms in a bucket, she puts a brick for weight." Again the forest of girlish hands - and the most different examples how you can use a brick in the form of a load. The topic has been exhausted. And again the boy: "Bricks can be laid over a fire so that the grass does not catch fire." The girls rushed to develop this topic as well. And a new turn - again from the lips of the boys: "You can put a board on a brick, and you get a swing", "Bricks can be thrown like shells."

Of course, this does not mean that not a single girl will put forward a new idea, but still Fundamentally new tasks are better solved by boys and men. But they do not attach importance to the thoroughness of the decision and the accuracy of the design. A boy can find a non-standard solution to a mathematical problem, but make a mistake in the calculations and as a result get a deuce. Girls, like all women, better perform typical, template tasks, carefully work out the details.

Girls have fluent speech, they read faster and write more accurately, but the selection of word associations, solving crossword puzzles, judging by the results of research, are better for boys.

If your son learns to read and write much more slowly than his older sister did, retells poorly and writes letters carelessly, do not be upset - this is a feature of the male mind. In addition, boys lag behind girls in development. Their childhood is longer. By the age of 7, boys in terms of their biological age, as a rule, are one year younger than girls of the same age.

Boys have their own way of growing up, but since they are more information-oriented (unlike girls, who are more interested in relationships between people), you don’t have to worry about their intellectual development.

Scolding the boy, state briefly and precisely what you are unhappy with. He cannot withstand emotional stress for a long time: his brain, as it were, turns off, and the child stops hearing you.

Neuropsychologists, recording the biocurrents of the brain of newborn children, found that the brain of boys and girls works differently from the very beginning.

Girls' games are more often based on near vision: girls play with dolls, rags, beads, buttons in a limited space, a small corner is enough for them. Boys' games are more often based on distant vision: they run after each other, throw objects into the distance, using all the space around them. Boys generally require more space than girls for full mental development. If the horizontal plane is not enough for them, they master the vertical one: they climb on the cabinets, run along the backs of the sofas, hang on the architraves of the doors ... The mastered space is reflected in different ways in the children's drawings. Boys, drawing the neighborhood of their house, show more yards, squares, streets, houses than girls. The girls fill the albums with princesses and self-portraits, while the boys fill them with cars and military battles.

nature's design

Who is stronger than

How do these features of the male “device” affect the education of boys? In preschool and primary school age, girls verbally “beat” boys. Their speech is better developed, but their thinking is more of the same type. Boys think outside the box and are interesting, but because they are silent, their inner world is often hidden from us.

Of course, this does not mean that not a single girl will put forward a new idea, but all the same, boys and men solve fundamentally new tasks better. But they do not attach importance to the thoroughness of the decision and the accuracy of the design. A boy can find a non-standard solution to a mathematical problem, but make a mistake in the calculations and get a deuce as a result. Girls, like all women, are better at performing typical, template tasks, but they carefully work out the details.

* * *

Boys have their own way of growing up, but since they are more information-oriented than girls, you don’t have to worry about their intellectual development.

Important

When a woman teaches a boy, her own childhood experience is of little use; comparing herself in childhood with him is wrong and useless. Scolding the boy, state briefly and precisely what you are unhappy with. He cannot bear the emotional stress for long. His brain turns off the auditory canal and the child stops hearing you.