The Many Gender Differences Although most kids love doing many of the same things, you will find definite, gender differences.  Sometimes, these differences encompass physical activity preference while other times, the differences are seen in personality, characteristics, and behavior.  If you are the parent of a boy and girl, you will attest to this fact.  For this reason, raising children of different gender can be exciting and fun, but also challenging. Studies have been conducted in-depth, finding that when it comes to learning, boys and girls are not only different by nature, but they have distinctive differences in the way they learn.  By using new technology for braining scanning, medical experts have been able to determine that gender differences include responding to stimuli, rest, and activity in unique ways. Other studies have been done on gender differences to determine how these differences manifest.  For instance, at the age of four days, it has been shown that girls will hold eye contact with the parent much longer than boys will.  However, these same studies also show that boys respond more to movement or activity than you would see with girls.  Even studies pertaining to vocabulary show gender differences with a girl using 20,000 words whereas a boy will use just 7,000 to 10,000, perhaps the reason women are more talkative in general. This does not mean that girls are smarter than boys are, just that they have the ability to learn verbal skills at a younger age and that boys tend to be more active.  Of course, gender differences go well beyond eye contact, vocabulary, and physical activity.  The brain differences found also crossed over into motor abilities, meaning that boys are generally more active and can grasp tasks such as walking easier than that of girls. As one professional said, “Nature and nurture always work together”, which is so true.  For example, girls are often raised in the home with a different type of nurturing from the parents, more protectiveness.  That coupled with them being nurturing by nature, means that as adults, the female takes on the position of caregiver in most instances.  She is more empathetic and because of her advanced vocabulary, finds it easier to express herself.  On the other hand, boys are usually raised to be in a position of leader.  As they grow into men, you typically see a more aggressive, competitive, and protective adult who is not good at expressing feelings verbally.