Brendan's old dentist

Chapter 9 of The Primal Teen by Barbara Strauch covers the influence of hormones on brain development. It was once conventional wisdom that hormones influence only the parts of the brain linked to sexual behavior. But now the studies show that hormones influence the overall brain.
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In fact, they're responsible for some of the cognitive differences we see between men and women.

The author is quick to point out the cognition differences are only statistical differences, and that there are many exceptions.

But that said, I once had a female friend who gave the most elaborate of directions to her house. You know the deal--the guy says, "Make a right on Cottage Street, go exactly 1.43 miles, left on Main, go five lights, make a right." Not my friend.

Her directions had so many landmarks and emotions that hubby and I exaggerated them a tiny bit each time we took the trip.

“Go up the big hill, then down, then up an even bigger hill, then you'll see Brendan’s old dentist, which is next to where Tina’s friend gets speech therapy. Make a left there. Then follow the gravel road, the cemetery will be on your left. Keep going after you can't see the cemetery any more, don't worry, you're still on the right road but the name changes..."

You get the idea. We all know about this male/female difference, right?

Well, a study was done on male and female rats in mazes. Here's what they found:

1. Female rats were more willing to take a wrong turn, but they got there in the end. (Hmmm...we all know about THAT male/female difference, too.)
2. When the researchers took away some bright-colored LANDMARKS from the mazes, the female rats got hopelessly lost, but not the male rats.
3. When the researchers changed the GEOGRAPHY of the maze slightly, such as making one hallway longer, the male rats became confused and disoriented, but not the female rats.

The author's conclusion: "This suggests a difference in strategy, not performance. A female giving directions to her house might say: 'Turn right at the big white church.' A male, on the other hand, might say: 'Go 1.45 miles and turn south-southwest'."

So, we can be on the lookout for cognition differences. And we can be aware that this is not so much caused by cultural influences; rather, it's the influence of our kids' hormones on their thinking.

I’d like to think that by observing these emerging traits in my kids, this is a way to “live with them in understanding.”

I want to try and understand my teens and tweens, and I think I can make some headway just by being aware of some of these interesting details that come from brain studies.

Perhaps one of our biggest jobs is to stand by, just far away enough, and just close enough, to observe.

Do you remember being a teen, and feeling as though nobody understands you? It’s not clear to me that this loneliness is such a good thing. But I haven’t finished reading the book.