Children’s Rhyme-Boys and Girls

“Girls go to Jupiter to get more stupider; Boys go to Mars to get more Candy Bars!”

Steven said he learned this rhyme whenever he was in elementary school in La Verne, California. He went to Oak Mesa Elementary School and said he probably found out about it around the age of seven when he was in the second grade. He said that this rhyming game was common on the playground where many boys would all line up and sing this to the girls. At this time period, boys are not yet attracted to girls like they are in later years. Therefore, they come up with rhymes such as this to promote their status as the “cooler” sex. The boys are not the only ones that come up with little rhymes like this as many girls gang up on the boys as well. Steven said it is all fun and games and tempers are never flared.

Steven said that this rhyme is primarily said in order for boys to make fun of girls because they think they are better. It sounds childish now but then again, they were all children whenever they started saying all of this. Steven said that boys want to make fun of girls because they think that girls have the infamous “cooties” that every child believes in. Therefore, saying that girls go to Jupiter to get more stupider, the boys are implying that they are smarter than girls and that girls are just plain stupid. This does not make any sense because we all know that there is no scientific evidence proving that guys are smarter than girls. This is just children acting just as they should be with fun games and senseless rhymes.

When I asked Steven what this proverb meant to him, he responded like he was still in the second grade, saying that this proverb helps emphasize how boys are smarter than girls. He said that it reminded him of his childhood and the fun they had at their school recesses. Jokingly, he did add that he believes this proverb is correct because girls are not as smart as guys and the guys are the dominant sex. As ridiculous as that sounds, he did laugh and say that he misses his childhood and those continuous rivalries between boys and girls. He’s now over the whole girls have “cooties” thing and believes that all children should go through that phase.

When I read the proverb for the first time, I sat back and chuckled as it also reminded me of my childhood and the rivalries between boys and girls. Recess was a great time for children to poke fun at each other with little games and rhymes. I remember we used to do the exact same thing at our recesses. Overall, I think this proverb represents childhood in all the ways previously described. It obviously does not make any sense because children can not travel to different planets. However, it shows the creativity of children in the sense that they can come up with rhymes that relate to stuff they are learning in school. In this case, I’m sure that the children were studying planets so they found ways to connect planets with their rivalries with each other. Additionally, I think rhymes such as this are said throughout the country for all children to enjoy the intense rivalry with the opposite sex.