"Boys run rather than walk, and shout rather than talk. But you know where you are with them."

So a mother of three daughters and two sons (born in that order) told me as we discussed the various merits - and otherwise - of boys and girls.

Most of my closest friends have sons who regularly come round to play, so I've been able to observe at first hand the differences - and whatever people say, they do exist.

Boys are louder, more boisterous, more physical. Where girls dress as princesses and role play, boys don masks, pick up toy swords and play-fight.

In museums girls will quietly sit and draw pictures while boys want to keep moving. They are more interested in the hands-on approach, using their bodily skills and strengths to make things happen.

I know that I'm generalising, and of course there are exceptions, but I haven't imagined this - I've seen it time and time again, particularly at children's parties and on school trips.

A study by scientists at America's University of Minnesota has confirmed this. Granted, the research was based on the behaviour of male and female chimps, but it reinforced the theory that while boys concentrate on fighting, playing and grunting, girls focus on chatting, watching and learning.

"Gender difference begins in the jungle..." said the report "Boys really are little monkeys."

It is by no means the first claim of this type and for parents of boys it must be infuriating.

I remember reading an article by Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray, who lambasted all the anti-boy theories, condemned the expression 'boys will be boys' and went on to tell how much of a pleasure her two sons were - and still are - to raise.

"All I remember is fun, affection, willingness to learn and an infinite capacity for hard work," she said.

Public perceptions of boys often leave them hard done by.

Girls have none-too-desirable traits too, but in a world of pretty frocks and pigtails these are all too regularly overlooked.

I also could use the expression 'hard work' for my daughters, but in a non-academic capacity. They whine and whinge, they whisper (which I hate) and wail.

They scowl and sulk and stamp their feet (which I also hate). Unlike boys, they don't come clean and tell you what they want straight out - they cleverly circle around the subject (like the women they will grow into).

Girls blow their tops over trivia.

A pen mark made accidentally on another's drawing can trigger a major tantrum - another thing that girls are more prone to.

When one of my daughters is in the dog house, the other comes over all doe-eyed and goody two-shoes.

Because girls are often praised for looking sweet, they think they can get away with murder - and frequently do.

Boys are no worse than girls, just different. And if the next scientific study on gender differences concentrated on black widow spiders, the balance may be somewhat redressed.

Updated: 09:41 Tuesday, April 27, 2004