Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

Gender and Stereotypes I appear to be quite fascinated by gender differences and stereotypes. Why? Well, it is a topic I find myself repeating. The first time I blogged about gender was way back in 2009 when I was trying to figure out how come boys become boys. Then I pointed out the differences between my husband's reading shelf and mine in 2012 and most recently when I talked about the boys' and girls' soccer team names in 2013. More Gender Stereotypes Well, I recently visited my son's class to help with a writing assignment - the assignment was to write a "how-to" report: procedural writing. It is always enjoyable to see how they think, and the things that are top-of-mind for them. Here are some of the topics the kids chose - HTML Tables Topic Gender How to braid your hair Girl How to do the highschool cheer Girl How to do the crow (a yoga) pose Girl How to lace your ice-skates Girl How to tie your laces Girl, but f...

I think it is really difficult raising children in this complex society, and raising girls perhaps even more so. I know there is a lot of discussion about the images of women in the media and the unrealistic expectations of girls. This is a picture taken from a recent Latina Cosmo. While no personal attack on the model is intended, she looks emaciated to me, and for sure I would not want any of my daughters aspiring to this representation of beauty. I do however have nieces, but they don't live in the US and their exposure to this is not quite the same. Fortunately. I am not sure how parents counter this (and I am assuming they would try), or even if I should be parenting my sons differently or how. The only thing I know to do is to emphasize health and personality over looks.

Rainbows Superstars Pixies Hello Kitties Shooting Stars Unicorns Lady Dragon Dolphins Orange Crushers Lady Bugs Red Hot Chili Peppers Water Lilies Super Spys Fireballs Storm Troopers Ninjas Wildcats Sidewinders Firebirds Speedy Sharks Secret Agents Speeders These are the names of the soccer teams in the boys U-6 and girls U-6 league that my son played in over spring. The colour scheme is meant to confuse, but from the names I bet you guessed that the first list is the girls teams and the second, the boys.

I came across some short articles on the differences between boys and girls and raising them, that I thought might be interesting. In the books I had read about raising boys, they mention some of the points raised in the links below - different expectations for boys/girls, different language is used with both, the difference in physical and emotional maturity. Although these online articles are not very detailed, it certainly gives you a flavour for some of the current thinking on this. For me, it is enlightening to learn more about how what I do, what I say and how their experiences affect how they behave and interact with the world around them. From TVs to Toys:What shapes boys into boys and girls into girls Differences in raising boys and girls As a further example to the different messages that boys get to girls and how in turn it affects their behaviour (circular reinforcement), check out this lemonade experiment. Difference between boys and girls When Lucas was born,...

I was wondering about this because I have a friend whose daughter started an all-girls elementary school from Grade 1 (and another who is thinking about doing this). I know there are lots of studies about the beneficial impact on education, confidence etc. for girls attending same-sex schools, but does it make a difference at so young an age? Are they missing out on social skills because of it? Is that a bad thing? I have no clue. I do know that I went to an all-girls secondary school (middle through high school), but I had gone to a co-ed elementary school. Throughout my secondary school experience I continued to meet the male friends I had made in elementary school, so I didn't feel totally inept when it came to talking to boys, but I certainly didn't feel terribly confident either (and I had a brother at home!). Lucas has a regular playdate with two sisters who live in our neighbourhood. Every Friday afternoon. Their mom asks me constantly, "Are you sure?" Yes, ...