what about gender roles?

[mamatogands]

I am curious how you mamas approach the question of gender roles with your dc? do you try to encourage your kids to be "boy-ish" or "girl-ish" or do you actively try to be gender-neutral? Or do you let them go with their personality? I am also curious if people have theological reasons for this (e.g., do you believe God created boys and girls with differences and we should support that in our kids?)

in our family, I try to go with what dd wants and is interested in. I have to admit though to a certain delight in her liking dolls AND basketball, princess dresses AND snakes and bugs. dh likes this too, but I am curious if he will be so open as our little boy starts to get older.
I do think God created differences between men and women (mostly having to do with the fact that's it's us women who have the babies), but I guess I think the way gender is constructed in our culture is often pretty darn twisted?

[Close2MyHeart]

I just encourage my children to enjoy whatever activities they enjoy. I dont' really think about what specific gender it typically applies to.

[phathui5]

I let my kids go with what they're interested in. However, for ds that means trucks and swords and for dd it's dolls and pretend cooking (with Playdoh). I don't push the gender neutral thing, because I don't think that kids are gender neutral. When I was a kid, I was sorta a "tomboy" when it came to play, but what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a mom and a wife.

[jujubnme]

in our family, I try to go with what dd wants and is interested in. I have to admit though to a certain delight in her liking dolls AND basketball, princess dresses AND snakes and bugs. dh likes this too, but I am curious if he will be so open as our little boy starts to get older. I do think God created differences between men and women (mostly having to do with the fact that's it's us women who have the babies), but I guess I think the way gender is constructed in our culture is often pretty darn twisted?

We do this too. And Julius's interests are all over the board. I'll admit sometimes it's a little hard to hold my tongue when he prefers the girl roles for acting out stories or when he delights in pink and purple things. But he loves plenty of boy things too, so I don't really worry. :shrug

[godsgracegiven]

I just encourage my children to enjoy whatever activities they enjoy. I don't really think about what specific gender it typically applies to. same here, my ds is loves to play house and all his stuffed animals are his" kids. They sleep on his bed and are very special to him. But at the same time he is very much in to robots,machines and superheros. So I don't really worry about it. :)