Friday, June 10, 2011

Boys Will Be....

It seems that posts and stories are popping up all over the Internet about gender, boys, girls, learning, and so forth. This week Not Just Cute addressed the issue of boys and girls. I've blogged some about it myself. (Look here and here for a couple of recent posts.)

I think it's important for boys and girls to have opportunities to explore and try out a variety of activities. Boys and girls use tools and build with blocks. Boys and girls cook and pretend. Boys and girls drive cars and create with art materials. All of these allow kids to broaden their understanding of the world and try lots of different things to discover what they like to do. I strive to put aside any preconceived ideas about what boys and girls should do.


This week I was reminded about it again. We had lots of baby care items out for the dolls. Only boys played in that center. (The girls were busy elsewhere.) Several boys fed, bathed, dressed, and even walked the dolls. We even had a two-handed push to get a pacifier into a baby's mouth. (That's a boy's way of handling the situation.)


I've never understood why people want to discourage boys (or girls) from particular activities. Boys need to explore family relationships.


After all, many of them will be fathers one day. And some of them may even grow up to teach preschoolers (like Greg) or kindergartners (like Matt)!