What is the deal with little girls?

My 11 year old plays basketball.  He is on one of about twenty teams.  They alternate playing games at each of our five elementary schools.

The basketball floor is standard size, just.  And there is nowhere for parents to sit except a filthy little stage which overlooks the basketball court by about four feet.  There are no chairs or risers, and often a lot of theatre props litter the small stage.  Most of these props have big notes taped to them threatening terrifying consequences if anyone from the basketball league touches them.

I can take my own chair, no problem.  I can keep my hands off the props.  Easy.  The problem is, I have to take my three year old.  I can take things for him to do like color, building blocks, etc.  He is fairly obedient so he is ok not touching the props.

The problem I have isn’t with my son, the lack of space so much, or the threatening notes.  It’s the other kids, more specifically the little girls aged from 4 to 9.

They ask my three year old to play and then proceed to run from him.  They want him to chase them.  It hurts his feelings.  He doesn’t understand and thinks they are running away because they don’t like him.

They shouldn’t be running in the tight little space with a myriad of parents cramped in,  and a four foot drop always just a hairs breath away, but alas and alak, some parents turn their backs on the kids and let them do as they please.

It annoys the crap out of me.  My son always ends up with his feelings hurt even when I warn him ahead of time what the girls will do.  For some reason, all the siblings on my son’s team are girls except one very violent little boy whose parents thankfully keep him in their lap.

I remember the first time I learned girls were “supposed” to run from boys.  I was in seventh grade and made a new friend in the trailer court.  Her name was Tracy Trout.  Tracy and I were outside playing in the yard when Mark, one of her two younger brothers but bigger than both of us, came plowing toward us screaming like an Indian.

Tracy jumped up off the grass and ran.  I did what I always did, I stood, waited for impact, then started swinging.

Mark was only 11 months younger than I was and very handsome.  And yeah, I saw girls running from boys on the playground in school, but I thought it was because they were weak and couldn’t defend themselves.  After all, why would you run from someone you could most likely whip?

This was one of those things I think mother’s talk to their daughters about.  I didn’t have a mom and my dad would say, “defend yourself.”  So I thought those running girls were silly weaklings.

Mark was shocked when I hit him.  I can still see his brown eyes and mussed brown hair in my mind’s eye.  He looked at me like I was some sort of alien, turned, and ran.

Tracy educated me.  She told me, in her 'I have a mom and know these things' kinda way, girls are SUPPOSED to run from boys.  All girls like to be chased don’t ya know?

Nope.  I didn’t have a clue and she didn’t convince me.

Mark never attempted to chase me again. 

Now I have a little boy who has no idea he is “supposed” to chase little girls.  They are all used to being chased and it seems like the only game they want to play.

Tag I can understand, except these silly girls never take their turn at being “it.”

I don’t have daughters.  If I did, they wouldn’t be inviting little boys to chase them around for no better reason than being chased.  Why?  Because eventually little boys catch them…then what?

Most little boys I see get trapped into this game end up putting their hands on the girl and trying to tackle her, or some other fairly physical act, which invariable gets the girl crying and the boy in trouble.

I don’t think its “instinctive” or any other built in mechanism that makes little girls want boys to chase them.  I had to be taught and I knew other girls who didn’t run from boys either.

So what is it?  Is this something mothers are teaching their daughters by example, by default, or by indifference?

I’d really like to know.