Gender stereotypes or expected behavior on the basis of gender, are troublesome for many modern parents who wish to raise children free of the confines of gender expectations. Lise Eliot, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at The Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is a mother of two sons and a daughter, and the author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain a book about how small differences in raising children can turn to troublesome gender gaps and what to do about them.
Eliot was featured on the local San Francisco television program "The View from the Bay" where she provided tips for parents looking to avoid gender stereotypes. Among her tips Eliot suggested that parents encourage play with building toys, especially for girls. She stressed that using building toys to "translate a series of instructional diagrams into 3-D structures helps enhance the visual-spatial skills linked to later math achievement."
Beyond encouraging play with building toys what can you do to ensure that you don't encourage gender stereotyping in your child rearing? There are a number of useful online resources that provide free activities and lesson plans for children of all ages.
Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has vast free online resources, activities and teaching kits for children K - 12 that focus on tolerance as a whole with substantial attention given to gender issue. The information is ideal for use by homeschoolers and concerned parents and the materials are frequently updated. Included on this site is access to Teaching Tolerance Magazine and an opportunity to subscribe for free Enews updates.
But parents aren't the only force affecting gender stereotypes. The media can also play a significant role in propagating stereotypes on the basis of gender. Parents interested in tools for exploring the relationship between the media and gender roles with their children can visit the Media Awareness Network. The Media Awareness Network offers an entire section for parents and many free interactive educational games for children. For those who homeschool there is also a section with teaching resources. The Media Awareness Network also provides information for maintaining control of home entertainment including television, movies, the Internet, music, and videogames.
Choice about gender stereotypes in parenting are personal family decisions but parents can feel educated in whatever choice they make thanks to the many resources available online.
Resources mentioned in this article:
Lise Eliot, Ph.D. on The View from the Bay -
Raising kids without reinforcing gender stereotypes - 9/28/09 - San Francisco News - abc7news.com
Teaching Tolerance -
Teaching Tolerance
Media Awareness Network -
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm
