Basketball Madness... nature or nurture?

So I've mentioned this before, but my little boy is OBSESSED with basketball... completely. I would guess that he says the word "basketball" at least 30 times a day and that a good portion of his day in occupied in finding, throwing, kicking, shooting, and carrying some sort of ball. Just a few weeks ago we made the HUGE mistake of showing him basketball videos on the computer. Now whenever anyone gets on the computer he throws a royal tantrum until you go to YouTube and turn on a basketball video. I'm sure if we let him he could watch basketball for hours. Crazy kid.

I thought that when he first started getting interested in balls, about 6-7 months old, that it was just a developmental stage, but I've long since realized that this is one stage I don't think he is going to grow out of anytime soon. In fact, I have the eerie suspicion that in a few years I am going to be spending a lot of time at ball games... which I don't mind too much as long as he doesn't take to liking football... not my favorite.

As I've watched my little boy develop such a love and interest in basketball I've found myself going back to the age old question of "Is it nature or is it nurture?" Is my little boy's obsession with basketball a result of how he has been socialized or is there something innate within him that drives his interest. Perhaps it is because I spent too much time studying gender behaviors in college, but I am really concerned about how I socialize my little boy. In fact, when he was little I was hesitant to put him in baby clothes that said things like "Mommy's little champ" or "#1 all-star" because I didn't want him to feel that just because he was a boy he had to like sports. It is really important to me for him to feel that he has the freedom to be whatever type of boy and man he wants to be. I don't want his perspective of what it means to be a man to be constructed by pop culture or socialized gender expectations. I'd rather that his perspective of manhood be shaped by an innate understanding that he is a child of God and that he has a divine mission to fulfill in this life, one that has nothing to do with how good he is at playing sports.

So part of me has been a little afraid as I've watched my son become more and more ball crazy, that Jon and I have already socialized him to like sports and that subconsciously we are already trying to get him to fit into classic gender stereotypes. But then again, as his mother I've witnessed almost every moment this little boy's life and have seen first hand how his "boyish" personality has developed. And while it is true that he has learned many of his behaviors from watching his Dad and other boys, I know that there is something in my little boy's soul that LOVES and YEARNS for balls. All you have to do is spend 15 minutes with this little boy to know that his interest in balls isn't something anyone taught him... he is just in love with them. Just like some little girls (not all) have an innate love for their dolls and a strong mothering instinct, this little boy has a ball instinct. Yet, this doesn't mean that he doesn't also have a nurturing instinct; there are many times when I've walked in on him giving his babies (a stuffed frog and bird) goodnight kisses, tucking them into a blanket and singing them a song. Still, as much as I encourage these type of nurturing activities and displays it still seems like he prefers rough and tumble activities; and more often I find him throwing his babies or knocking them over rather than playing soft with them. Sigh...

Who knows, perhaps this basketball madness is just a phase and he will out grow it. Then again, maybe it isn't and he really has a talent for it. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I've decided that boys are just different than girls, and I'll just have to get use to that-- plain and simple.