re: Do You Think Its Important To Teach Kids To Act Their Sex?

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I think parents need to teach the kids how to act, how to act their gender, and that the reality is there are gender roles.

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I think most kids absorb these roles by seeing their parents in those roles. I never “taught” my daughter to act like a girl, but she does. Actually, she was a bit more tomboy-ish than I ever was (enjoys soccer, fishing, frogging, and the like), but she is also quite beautiful and dates guys. She’s as much at home at a baseball game as she is all decked out at a formal event. There’s no question she is a female, both in appearance and in her gender role.

If we’d had a son, I imagine my husband would be his example of how a male acts. Part of the problem is that many boys grow up without a male role model in their lives. If a dad is out of the picture, I believe those boys need an uncle or a grandfather to be that role model in their lives. I’ve sometimes heard coaches complain about certain boys being too “soft” or that they cry easily. Those kids almost always come from homes without a man.

I would not condone abusing a child who doesn’t conform to those roles, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t try to guide my child down the path of standard gender roles if she seemed inclined to the contrary.