use your words, if you have any

I heard an interesting take the other day on the radio on the "boys don't cry" thing. Apparently girls develop linguistically faster than boys. This means that boys cry to communicate needs/wants longer than girls do. Because they are older, the boys are told off more for crying, because the parents expect them to be able to explain what they want like a girl of the same age probably could do, and this contributes to boys being told that they shouldn't cry. Of course there are other reasons some parents tell their boys not to cry, but I found this one interesting.

In regards to the linguistic thing, my (boy) cousin didn't speak at all until he was four years old. Given some of the stuff that's come out of his mouth since, it could be said it was a pity he started at all. =)