Dear Jean:

I'm doing a science project for school on what boys think about girls. I'm comparing dating and marriage. Can you give me any information about boys and the way they think?

Jean responds:

Hi,
Ah, yes...information on boys and the way they think. Girls wonder and worry about the ways boys think of them, and vice versa (boys also wonder and worry about girls' thoughts). Sometimes they're still wondering and worrying when they've become men and women. And I'm not sure anyone has studied the subject in a way that can benefit you and your science project right away. But there are some materials that are suggestive: You might want to check out books like, "Crushes, Creeps, and Classmates: A Girl's Guide to Getting Along with Boys," by Betsy and Elizabeth Frankenberger; clicking on the underlined text will take you to amazon.com where you can get more information about this book, or try your local public library. Ditto for Jeremy Daldry's "The Teenage Guy's Survival Guide."

Of course, these books would just give you these authors' ideas and opinions about the ways boys and girls think about each other -- if indeed they even get into that.

As you're working on a science project, you might want to try something more scientific -- like a poll. Maybe you can get help from your teacher on how to set up and carry out a small poll of boys in your community on their ideas, feelings, and thoughts on marriage and dating. My guess is that you could learn a lot about constructing polls, as well as about the ways boys think of girls, by conducting such a survey, and it could be a lot of fun.

Finally, I'm probably not your best resource for suggesting ways to go about tackling this project: try consulting your school librarian, the public librarian, your teacher, and one or more online reference resources; for the latter, you can start with the home page at bigchalk.com . They'll help you take it from there.

Good luck, and feel free to send us news of your project. We'll be happy to publish it online, if you like.

Jean.

Disclaimer: Ms. Walbridge's response to your question is intended to be educational and informative. It is not a substitute for face to face consultation or psychotherapy with a mental health professional.

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