malleable does not fit.
Around the age of 5, the cultural expectations and experiences of boys and girls begin to diverge. For the boy, the world of childhood widens markedly from the intimate cocoon of unchecked benevolent indulgence to the unfamiliar masculine network woven by the inflexible demands and tensions of the men of the family. The Hindu daughter is not severed from the other women in the household, although she is given grown-up household tasks and responsibilities. The end of childhood for boys is marked by the initiation ceremony, or the (second birth( into the community as a social being. The next stage for males is that of the role of householder, defined as establishing a family and the means of maintaining same. In the next stage, termed withdrawal, the individual is supposed to detach himself gradually from the affairs of the immediate family and extend care to the community at large.
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