Sadly, Kids Are Affected By Gender Stereotypes Way Too Soon

How are we going to help build the self esteem of our daughters?  My girl Kate “the Gator” who is 8 yrs old seemed to buy into gender stereotypes at a very early age.  She talked about boy clothes versus girl clothes or toys before I thought she even knew the difference.  What were the influences?  Big Bird?  Bob the Builder?  Dinosaur Train?  What about the strong independent Dora the Explorer?

Why even worry or wonder? Read on.

A new study published in the journal Science found that young U.S. girls are less likely than boys to believe their own gender is the most brilliant. While all five-year-olds tended to believe that members of their own gender were geniuses, the study shows by age six that preference had diminished for girls --a difference the researchers attributed to the influence of gender stereotypes.

 Yahoo News says researchers found the results surprising, and also heartbreaking.  A growing body of research that suggests gender stereotypes can sadly shape kids' interests and impact their career ambitions at that very young age.