Parenting and Gender

GENDER

BOYS VS GIRLS

This next topic is very controversial right now.  Dr. Phil actually just did a special last week called, "The Pronoun Debate" and touched a lot on this topic. He got very heated.  There was an interview by a lady who is raising her child without a gender.  It was shocking and surprising to see what she had to say.  But no matter how you feel about the gender debate or the pronoun debate in America today there is still the debate of how to raise girls vs boys.  Is there a difference?  Read this story for more info:

https://time.com/5885697/gender-creative-parenting/

Lets start out by reading this story: 

One of the BYU-I professors shared the following story about parenting and gender. She said, “I had a neighbor some years ago from another country. Although we were different in many ways, we developed a deep friendship and enjoyed watching our children of similar ages play and grow together. During long summer days of sitting together and watching our children, we visited with each other about all sorts of things.

One day, however, she said something that surprised me. She stated that she had many different rules for her daughter than for her sons. Believing in embracing gender roles, I shared with her that although men and women should mutually help each other, recognizing differences among the sexes is essential. But I found that she meant something entirely different.

Her sons did not need to help with household chores, but her daughter was expected to. Her daughter was not to date until she was out of high school, and then, only date men whom the family approved of. Her sons were free to sow their wild oats when and where they pleased. Her daughter was expected to marry and bear children, all while putting off any personal pursuits of education or work that she may have had. Her sons were expected to attend college and pursue a lucrative career before they married, as to show stability and provide appropriately for a future family.”

What are your first thoughts? Is this how you raise your children?

I right away thought about my own parenting style and many things came to mind.  Right away I thought I parent my children all the same no matter on the gender.  I thought about one of my daughters:

Maddie is a sweet 12 year old little girl and I thought about the way I raised her.  When she was a toddler she loved Spider-man.  She said it was because she loved the color red and her eyes were blue and spider-man was red and blue.  I painted her whole room red and blue with Spider-man and she dressed up as Spider-man for Halloween.  She wanted Spider-man underwear when she was potty training but they don't make girl Spider-man underwear so I bought her boy underwear.  I raised her with love, compassion, and patience.  She is now in middle school , wears girl underwear, still loves Spider-man, and is an all around great child.

This is my son Evan he is 9 years old and is ALL BOY!  He was raised the same way his sisters were raised.  When he was younger, he played with his trucks, trains, blocks, legos, and tractors all day long.  When his sisters got home from school he put all his toys in his closet and pulled out his baby dolls, barbies, bottles, diapers, and purse out from under his bed.  He knew his sisters would not play with him unless he played what they liked. They would not play trucks with him but they would play barbies with him and he knew that! He is a well-adjusted amazing boy!

How do raise your girls and your boys? What are the similarities?  What are the differences?

For more information here is a great article:

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/how-gender-distinctions-affect-parenting/