"I'm a boy climber"

Gender Roles: What is expected for men and what is expected for women? This is what society expects how men and women to behave.

Gender Identity: Our sense of being male or female. What do we think is a typical male or female?

Gender typed: The acquisition of the traditional male or female role. How do you acquire the role?

Social Learning Theory: The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and being rewarded or punished.

Gender Schema theory: Form a lens through which to view experiences of information into schemas. (he/she, long/short hair, dresses/pants.)

I work in the Young Israel groups and this week my kids were playing on the playground. They were all playing around, and one of the girls was climbing on the playground. She was climbing and I asked if she was okay and if she knew what she was doing. She said she's done it before and that she is okay. When she finished climbing over things she was proud of herself and she exclaimed "I'm a boy climber, I can climb like a boy." When I heard this I immediately thought of psychology class.

Also, later that day, the same girl was playing around where the boys were and she took one of the things that they were playing with. Later, she came up to me and told me that the boys were scared of her and how funny it is that boys are scared of a girl and that's not how it's supposed to be.

These events made me think a lot about what society has become. How there are separate strengths or fears that only girls are suppose to have. It made me wonder if it's just the way the gender roles have evolved over time or is it the way people raise their kids what to believe?