Boys' vs. Girls' Activities

Once in a while I take a dance class at a local gym. I'm not a gym member. I take dance classes elsewhere with the same instructor.

I was at a dance class today and afterwards I stopped in the lounge to have a container of yogurt.

There were flyers on the tables about a barbecue event for parents, where they provided special activities for the children so that the parents could have free time to enjoy the barbecue for themselves.

There were separate events for the boys and for the girls.

The boys' event was "Superhero for a Day".

The girls' event was "Princess for a Day".

WTF?!!

I can't imagine someone trying to do this in the US without parents raising a huge stink.

Especially in a gym, where women go to lift weights and make themselves strong.

I don't have children, so I'm wondering if it's common for little boys and girls to be segregated this way in the UK, where boys learn how to be strong and powerful and girls learn how to be pretty?

I would complain to the gym, but since I'm not a member, I don't think it will make much difference.

WTF indeed!  It would have been so much better if they had offered "Superhero(heroine) for the day" and maybe "Princes and princesses for the day".  Or just get rid of the prince / princess one altogether.

Or they could just have a general face painting/dress up in costumes day and let the kids dress up and play however they like.

WTF indeed!  It would have been so much better if they had offered "Superhero(heroine) for the day" and maybe "Princes and princesses for the day".  Or just get rid of the prince / princess one altogether.

Where I live (articulate middle class left leaning type people mostly) there would have been a stink. In other places maybe not.

http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

 

WTF?? Uggh...  I don't think its nice  

http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

 

Awesome!

Why not let the boys and girls do what they want?  Not all girls want to be princesses and sometimes the boys want to be!   

http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

 

Wonderful.

I've just posted that link to my facebook page (with a rant about the gym flyer).

Oh. I misread the flyer.

It's not just about dressing up and playing pretend.

The girls get manicures and pedicures and the boys get karate lessons   

Oh. I misread the flyer.

It's not just about dressing up and playing pretend.

The girls get manicures and pedicures and the boys get karate lessons   

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder!

As a child I would have protested...I was so into being a superhero and doing 'boy things'...I would NEVER had done anything like a manicure (perhaps at 18, but not before then). 

As a child I would have protested...I was so into being a superhero and doing 'boy things'...I would NEVER had done anything like a manicure (perhaps at 18, but not before then). 

Me, too.  Even now I'd much rather have a karate lesson (something new to try!) than a manicure.  It's pathetic!

Sadly, you are seeing that more in the US. IMHO, it's more about the girly stuff. The manufacturers of all the pink crap advertise everywhere. The princess/fairy/ballerina nonsense is everywhere. I don't have girls but it's unavoidable wherever I go. The advertising for boy stuff kicks in a bit later (transformers, spiderman, all that stuff). But for the girls, it starts VERY young. As a result of the early advertising targeted at the girls, I feel from an earlier age they are almost pushed to the girly side of things.

The only thing that seems to keep it from getting completely out of control is the bigger push in the US towards sports in the schools. I know so many little girls here who play soccer or swim, but I can't say the same for when I was in the UK.

Just my personal experience and ramblings.

For the parents of girls, in particular, how do you steer your kids away from the pink plastic monstrosities?

I don't have kinds of my own but have a neice and nephew who are 3 and 5.  I already see the neice in particular picking up horrible stereotypical behaviors.  I certainly don't think policing that sort of thing with an iron fist works but I just want to try to be a good influence and let her know that "boy's" stuff is ok to like.

I don't have kids, but based on my personal experience, I think that just encouraging girls and boys to play together would help.

I have a brother, so he just naturally wanted me to include me in the things he did just so he could have someone to play with.

And outside the home, when I was growing up, I played in the playground with other boys and girls because we were all there and we just wanted to play together, so we just did the same things together.


I remember playing superheros in nursery school because everyone played superheroes.

In school, girls and boys had gym together in elementary school and junior high. We didn't get segregated until high school.


I have a niece and nephew, and DH always goes out of his way to make sure that he gets them individual, interesting gifts that aren't gender stereotypical. My niece, who is 9 now, said that out of all the presents she gets, the ones from him are the best. (The last thing he got her was a wind up radio.)

The above being said, I think a lot of it has to do with paying attention to a child as an individual and not making assumptions about what a boy or a girl would like.

Hmmm, my 6 year old daughter plays mostly with boys and is a blue tag(5th Kup) in Tae Kwon Do. 
When invited to a fancy dress party if it is a princess party she will go as Princess Leia.  Otherwise, she goes as either Anakin Skywalker, a clone trooper or Darth Vader. 
I have never pushed the whole pink thing on either one of my girls.  From an early age I've told them to do what makes them happy-as long as it is not at the expense of others. 
(OK, the 6 year old got the Star Wars bug from me...    )