Note to My Nieces: OK, you two are both old enough that you’re probably spending a lot of time thinking about boys, and I’m basically still a boy myself (I don’t have kids, because 20 years is a long time to spend pretending to be a grownup), so let me see if I can shed some light for you.
Here’s the thing. When you ask a guy what he’s thinking about? And he says “nothing”? I know this is really, really hard for you to believe, but there’s a good chance he’s actually telling the truth.
Right now both of you are younger than I was when I got my driver’s license, but you’re both smarter already than I’ll ever be. Why? Because you’re girls. That’s just how it is.
If you were guys, I’d give you this advice: “Think of the dumbest girl you know — guess what? She’s smarter than you. Maybe not about math or English or playing the piano or whatever, but she’s smarter about all the other stuff you don’t learn in school.”
But you’re girls, so here’s what little advice I can give you about boys. You look at a boy, and you try to figure out what’s going on inside his head, and you’re mystified. I look at a turtle, and I try to figure out what’s going on inside its head, and I’m mystified. In the same exact way. For the same exact reason.
My brain is really complex and advanced — I can think about math, or philosophy, or music. I can have thoughts about things the turtle doesn’t even know exist to have thoughts about. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to go through life with such a simple, stupid brain.
The reason you can’t figure out what a boy is thinking is the same reason I can’t figure out what a turtle is thinking. The good news is that in either case, the answer is probably “not very much.”
(pic via My Good News First)
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