At work I was in the PreK classroom and before we could go to the Village and play I had to keep them occupied with something because the Village had to many kids in it. So, a girl in my class brought read along Disney books. I brought them out and but the CD in and the kids sat in a circle to listen. Once the boys in the classroom say it was The Little Mermaid the started complaining that they did not want to listen to it. I told them they had to and it would be okay and over soon and then we could go play. So I started the story.
Once I started the story the boys loved it. There were trying to guess what was going to happen and got really into it especially when the story got the the climax. I was surprised at how into the book the boys were, I think it was mostly because it was a read along story. Having all of the different voices and sounds in the background help keep their attention and make it a more exciting book. Does this mean it is this easy to get boys interested in Princess books/stories? I believe this answer is no. I only think the boys listened to the book because of the CD reading it and they were being good so they could go to the Village. But I do think the read along books are a good idea the make kids more interested in books. They are interesting and like movies without the film but make the kids analyze the pictures!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
PreK boys and Disney stories?
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Jenny I agree with your post. I have also experienced something like this at my job. I feel that most of the times boys say they are not interested in “Princess or Disney” because they gained knowledge from their environment that this is for girls. At a young age now boys and girls are being steered into gender specific situations very early. I believe that read aloud as well as stories on tape is a good way to expose those students who are not interested because they feel it is for girls or otherwise. Children sometimes need to be pushed to try different things. As you pushed the little boys to give the story a try they found out that they actually enjoyed the book. Children need to throw all their preconceived notions about society prompted gender specific material such as princesses. I feel that just because something is a princess or a dinosaur it should not be marketed toward just girls or just boys because both children can learn a lesson from the story. I just hope we can come together as a society and stop our kids from discouraging certain things just because it is quote on quote for boys or girls.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with this post, I believe boys are conditioned to believe that princesses are for girls. There are different gender roles that boys and girls experience growing up and they are not usually the same. A boy will often be given a hot wheels car before he is given a barbie doll. I believe the read aloud story took away the notion that they were being forced to read a princess book. By having the story read to them, it was not relating it specifically to a certain child. The read aloud doesn't directly associate the child with the book like the child actually reading it does. By having a child read something gives them a deeper experience and deeper feeling about the story.
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