What is a joke?
Among other definitions, play can be understood as an organized form of expression. From the action of playing, children represent the world around them and manage to generate different ways of looking at this world. Play can be lonely – when a child imagines, creates scripts and plays alone – or social - when there is interaction with other children and the relationship of exchanging knowledge about the reality.
Toys created for boys are usually aimed at adventure.
The division of female and male play
Understanding play as a way of representing the world implies understanding that, somehow, children, when playing, imitate reality. Thus, it is easy to understand why, over the years, as well as adult reality, games were able to divide and assign specific roles to men and women, boys and girls. In human history, this division of roles has always been marked. Women, created for motherhood, sweetness, care and education. Men created for protection, virility and adventure. Playing just incorporated this reality largely supported by the division of gender issues: toys for children. girls encourage the development of fine manual skills, care with household chores and education of children. sons. While toys designed for boys tend to encourage problem solving and the use of physical strength.
Toys created for girls can encourage motherhood
What are the effects of differentiation?
For parents, differentiating between boys' and girls' games is a way of mastering the relationship that their children establish with the world, eliminating anxiety in the face of the child's unknown world. For children, this differentiation often makes no sense. In cases where there is punishment for transgression, there is a complicating factor. For example, when a boy likes to play with dolls and is punished for it, his relationships with the female can be quite compromised. The same happens when a girl is criticized for being interested in football or martial arts.
How to deal with differences?
It is necessary to understand, first of all, that the division of games into “boy things” and “girl things” is something historical, it is not an invention of a particular father or mother. In this sense, deconstructing the problem and understanding it is not an easy task. The most important thing is to keep in mind that, just like in games, children imitate reality when they have to act in the face of difference. Therefore, a child's reaction to a friend who has different tastes than hers depends a lot on how the family, school and society react to it.
For parents and educators there is always the question: why is there a nuisance in the use of toys regardless of gender? Why does a girl who plays football or a boy who likes cliques bother? What are the adults' issues that lead them to believe that this game is problematic?
Many educators believe that playing is a preparation for life. If we think like that, it would not be coherent to understand that a boy who plays with dolls will be a good father as an adult, or to understand that a girl who likes complex toys will be a researcher.
What should be highlighted for parents and educators is the following: regardless of their relationship with reality, children must have the freedom to choose how and what they want to play with.. Punishing a child for acting differently than expected only turns their curiosity into a monotonous experience of a reality that doesn't allow for differences.
How to find out more?
The film Ma Vie In Rose (My Life in Pink) tells the story of Ludovic, a boy who believes he is a girl. It is a very interesting way to start discussions about prejudices arising from gender identity, such as the games and preferences of each child.
The documentary overcoming barriers (available online) tells the story of Emily who, coming from a traditional family, decides to become a basketball player.
Juliana Spinelli Ferrari
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Psychology from UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista
Brief psychotherapy course by FUNDEB - Foundation for the Development of Bauru
Master's Student in School Psychology and Human Development at USP - University of São Paulo
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/psicologia/diferencas-entre-as-brincadeiras-meninos-meninas.htm
