Читать книгу Raising Girls: Why girls are different – and how to help them grow up happy and confident - Gisela Preuschoff - Страница 10

Female skin is significantly thinner than male skin and seems to want touching more. The hormone that releases the need to be touched is oxytocin.³ It is no wonder that women, whose receptors are ten times more sensitive than men’s, think it is so important to touch and hug their husbands, children and friends.

Parents speak more often to their female babies, which certainly could explain why girls seem to listen more attentively. As little girls maintain eye contact longer than boys, they ‘demand’ that their parents devote more time to them, smile at them and talk to them.

Every baby begins to distinguish women’s voices from men’s very early on. She knows her parents’ voices from when she was in the womb. With this, a more detailed classification process begins: for example, a deep voice means coarser facial features and rougher skin. The baby is gathering information that, years later, moulds her image of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’.

At the age of six months, little girls are already more independent than their male companions: they can occupy themselves happily with toys and can comfort themselves with their thumb or a muslin.

The most significant difference in the first months is the speed with which little girls mature. Their height and weight increase more quickly, and they cut their canine teeth earlier than boys.

At the age of seven months, little girls can roll from one side onto the other (and often they can crawl already), are very skilled in handling a spoon, can draw lines and can pull up a zip.

These developmental differences continue apace. At preschool age, girls’ fine motor skills are significantly better developed. Girls also start speaking much sooner and have more self-control (see page 33).