Not just for Boys

I grew up with 3 older brothers so I never found any barriers to doing what the boys do. I had a ‘if they can do it, why can’t I’ sort of attitude. As I got older this didn’t necessarily mean that I wanted to do what they were doing, but I certainly wanted to be given the option and there were several times that I did it just to prove a point. Now I know that times are changing but there still seems to be a sense of division between what boys and girls can do as extra curricular activities. My little miss adventurous decided she would like to have a go at soccer so I was happy to take her along to a class and give it a go.

I was surprised to find that she was the only girl in the group but this didn’t seem to bother her. Unfortunately all of the activities were centered on things that excited the boys – dinosaurs, pirates and attacking. We regularly play pirates at home, and she has toy dinosaurs but the whole approach was quite aggressive for the young age group and really didn’t work for her, despite the fact that she was good at it she simply didn’t want to play rough. I am so glad that she gave it a go and broke the stereotype but very disappointed that the stereotype was still there and that the class hadn’t been designed to suit both boys and girls.

So until we can find a level playing field it is back to kicking the ball around in the backyard.

Do your kids only play gender stereotyped games or a mix of both? Do you find you are included where you “don’t belong”?