Kids Gender Roles

As kids we begin to learn the difference between right and wrong; generally learning these things from our parents and other authoritative figures. Because children are just learning and are so young, they generally tend to hold the opinions of their parents rather than developing their own. Parents tend to have preconceived notions of how their child should look or act based on their gender; because of this parents often push their opinions onto their children without even realizing it. As future decision makers, parents should allow their children to play with what they want, wear what they want and act the way they want without being influenced by the gender stereotyping implemented by society. From birth children are exposed to gender stereotyping. When parents find out the sex of their baby they tend to go out and buy the most stereotypical outfit they can find for that gender. For girls it’s generally an outfit that’s dainty with a plethora of pink, lace and tulle. Boy’s baby clothing is generally blue with some kind of sports related theme because apparently babies come out of the womb already loving sports. This trend of stereotypical boy and girl clothes continues throughout childhood because parents continue to be responsible for picking out and dressing their young children. So do you like to wear dresses? No. Do you like to wear tights? No, that’s Ethan. That’s Ethan? Ethan likes to wear tights? He likes to wear, I think he wears skinny jeans sometimes. Would you wear skinny jeans? No. Why? They hurt my crotch. They hurt your crotch? So what kind of clothes are for guys? You know, like, shorts. Short shorts? NO. Long shorts like here or here but not up here. No. T-shirts, tang tops. Ok, now what kind of clothes do girls wear? Dresses. Can’t girls wear t-shirts though and tang tops? No. Girls aren’t allowed to wear t-shirts? I DON’T KNOW! Ok! Ok. Stop asking me girl questions. I’m just wondering! What’s your favorite character on TV that dresses cool. TV or music or… Justin Bieber. You think Justin Bieber looks cool? I Just like his style. He’s got SWAG. He’s got swag? Ok so what kind of clothes are for little boys? Would a little boy wear a dress? NO! No? It’s only for girls! Dresses are only for girls I forgot! I forgot! I forgot dresses are for only girls! As a child we find that what toys you have and play with become incredibly important in the way you are perceived by your peers. Generally you don’t see boys playing with baby dolls and Barbie’s and if you call a boys action figure a doll chances are they will correct you. However the reason kids usually think like this is because of their parents. Like clothes, parents and other adults are the ones who are the purchasers of these toys, so they directly influence what their children play with. For example, if a son asked his father for a Barbie doll the father would most likely be enraged by his son playing with a “girl toy.” How would playing with a “girl toy” make the son any less masculine? And why is it more acceptable for girls to play with what society considers to be more masculine toys? Toys generally aren’t what determine the type of person the child will become when they are older. Easy questions, alright. What is your favorite toy to play with? My Xbox. Your Xbox? What other stuff besides an Xbox? What kind of toys? Do you like legos, do you like poly pockets? What? No. I like legos yeah. Do you like action figures or anything like that? Nope. Nope? So what kind of games do you like, do you like to play dress up? You don’t like to play dress up? No.. Do you like to play tag? No. Do you play any kind of games like sports and stuff? Football, baseball, and a game I like to play is infected. Do you like to cheerlead or dance or anything like that? Where are you getting this from?! I’m just asking questions! NO. You don’t like to cheerlead or dance? I play football ok I don’t (inaudible sounds) OK. Alright. What kind of toys are for boys? Like, machine guns, helicopters, and that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff? Well I think. What are girl toys? Like Barbie dolls, Dress up, and… and… polly pockets! What’s your favorite toy to play with? Do you like to play with your dolls house over here, do you like to ride your bike? I like to ride my bike. Do you like any barbies or anything like that? No, I like my little pet shop. Little pet shops? Do you like ot play with legos? Yeah. Do you like to play football and stuff like that? Yeah. So what kind of a toy is for a girl? Like what kind of toy would you give a little girl? A Barbie. Now what kind of toy would you give to a little boy? Would you give him a Barbie? No! No, Why? Cus barbies are only for girls! Social interactions in early life are some of the basic building blocks for the development of children. How a child interacts with their peers and parents in early life have a big impact on how the child will be socially in later life. Positive social interactions at a young age promote better behavior and an overall more rounded adult. The way children treat their peers and other adults have been shown to have a correlation with how their parents interact with them socially. Children have a tendency to replicate the behaviors shown by their parents. For example if daddy hits mommy then it’s more likely a young child will replicate that behavior on a female peer. What do you and your friends like to do, what do you do with your guy friends? We usually hang out, play sports, play Xbox, just whatever. And if you’re hanging out with the girls what do you do? Usually either go to the movies, or the mall or something like that. What do most girls do? Starbucks, chipotle, they go out on little chipotle runs, and don’t know I mean guys don’t usually do that I mean sometimes mostly it is like girls that want to go out and get Starbucks. Clothing, toys and social interactions are just a few examples of things our current society continues to stereotype based upon gender. By letting children explore the world without the constraints of gender stereotyping we would be allowing them to become more knowledgeable, better people and let them just be kids.