Stereotypes

This morning third graders were given a true/false quiz. They were asked to answer the following:

Kids who wear jeans are not smart.
Girls wear dresses.
Girls have long hair.
Doctors are boys.
Nurses are girls.
Girls play with dolls.
Boys play sports.
Moms do housework.
Dads go to work.
Boys like to build things.
Girls like to cook.

Their responses were fantastic! Many of them asked at the beginning, "Wait a minute. Girls don't always wear dresses. Not all girls wear dresses..." I asked them to complete the "quiz" the best they could and be sure to raise their questions and concerns during our discussion.

The discussion was quite animated. Many children had very strong feelings about the statements made. The most challenging to get over were - Nurses are girls and doctors are boys. Some children had difficulty being convinced otherwise.

The point of this experience of course was to introduce the children to the concept of stereotypes. A stereotype is when we make an assumption about a person based on the group they belong to - in this case 'boys' or 'girls.' We will have more conversations about stereotypes. Based on our conversation about nurses and doctors, I think we'll stick with gender for now and focus specifically on professions. You can have some interesting conversations about this with your child at home. :o)