{"id":105,"date":"2011-10-06T07:06:20","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T06:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/?p=105"},"modified":"2011-10-06T07:06:20","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T06:06:20","slug":"pink-princesses-and-mucky-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/pink-princesses-and-mucky-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink Princesses and Mucky Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which one are you?<\/strong>
\nPerhaps you\u2019re one of those parents (is it mostly mums?) who encourage their little girl to dress up as a princess or a fairy; nowadays it\u2019s not unusual to see girls wearing these kinds of costumes, particularly at Birthday parties and other celebrations. Or perhaps you\u2019re a parent who has decided to take a stand of sorts. You\u2019re determined to see to it that your little girl isn\u2019t given a princess dress and you encourage her to muck about and play with trucks as well as dolls; you say you don\u2019t want her becoming too much of a \u201cgirlie\u201d girl. This approach to bringing up girls might not influence their behaviour as much as you think. Recent research indicates that traditional stereotypes of what it is to be a girl or a boy are deeply ingrained in our culture.<\/p>\n

This article takes a closer look at this study, undertaken in Ireland, and concludes by suggesting how parents and childcarers can help children pursue interests they enjoy regardless of whether they are considered \u201cgirls\u201d or \u201cboys\u201d activities. First, let\u2019s look at the lengths a Canadian couple has gone to in order to ensure that their new baby is \u201cfree\u201d to behave as s\/he wishes, unconstrained by society\u2019s expectations of how s\/he ought to be.<\/p>\n

A \u201cgender-free\u201d baby<\/strong>
\nIn May this year, a couple from Canada decided not to reveal their newborn\u2019s gender to anyone, including the grandparents. They said they wished for their child, Storm, to choose who and what s\/he wanted to be. Their decision, they said, was \u201ca tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place?).\u201d A step too far? Many of us probably think so. However, while it does seem far-fetched that a baby could be influenced by gender stereotypes, a recent Irish study indicates that girls and boys have well-established ideas about what is suitable behaviour for their sex and that this starts well before the age of nine \u201cprobably in the cradle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gender identity<\/strong>
\nTraditional stereotypes of boys playing football and girls wearing princess dresses are as pervasive as ever, according to research into Ireland\u2019s nine-year old population. In general, the boys who were interviewed explained how other boys \u201cplayed football and rugby\u201d while girls \u201cdid ballet\u201d. Only boys said they wanted to be chefs and footballers, and only girls wanted to be hairdressers and nurses. Even though the research was carried out in Ireland, we can assume that children in the UK have similar attitudes, given that our cultures are so alike.<\/p>\n

And while the study\u2019s authors acknowledge that biology plays a part in influencing girls and boys activities, with boys being physically stronger than girls, \u201cbiology does not explain a disposition to like pink and to be able to manage a Hoover [a vacuum cleaner]. It doesn\u2019t explain why boys see school as more for girls and why all boys seem to feel obliged to be fanatical about football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social and cultural influences<\/strong>
\nInfluences such as fashion and television as well as attitudes of their parents\/elders are no doubt responsible for children\u2019s concepts of gender. The way in which women and men are portrayed by our consumer culture makes it difficult for parents \u2013 and by implication, their children – to avoid stereotyping. When babies are first born they are met by a parade of pink or a barrage of blue. And it continues thus. While we may consider ourselves liberated from antiquated notions of what a woman or a man \u201cis\u201d or \u201cdoes\u201d, traditional stereotypes still hold sway as the Irish study highlights.<\/p>\n

Does it matter?<\/strong>
\nWhat are the implications for our children now and in the future? When one considers that figures for the UK as well as Ireland show that girls\u2019 participation rates in sport falls well short of boys\u2019 and that girls outperform boys in education then findings such as these give cause for some concern.<\/p>\n

How can we help?<\/strong>
\nWhile it is not possible for us as parents and childcarers to change the one-dimensional versions of female and male proffered by our consumer culture, we can do our best not to impose limits on children as to what they can or cannot do. This involves giving your girls the option of playing with toys or participating in activities that are usually associated with boys and vice versa. As the co-director of the Irish study, Prof. Sheila Greene puts it, \u201cWhen stereotypes are given full rein, children\u2019s choices and their freedom to be the person they want to be can be curtailed.\u201d We may not go so far as to hide the gender of our children, but we can help our children explore every aspect of themselves regardless of gender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which one are you? Perhaps youre one of those parents (is it mostly mums?) who encourage their little girl to dress up as a princess or a fairy; nowadays its not unusual to see girls wearing these kinds of costumes, particularly at Birthday parties and other celebrations. Or perhaps youre a parent who has decided … Continue reading “Pink Princesses and Mucky Boys”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childminders","category-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nannyjob.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}