What Do You Think of This Gender Neutral Preschool?

I like the comment that someone made on the page with the article. I will quote that person:

"Their minds are so open that their brains fell out."

Well said, no?

There is an agenda behind this and it isn't to allow the kids to just be "themselves." Trust me, this is not far from what they are trying to pull off in California's public schools. The fact that this preschool won't allow classics like Cinderella and has lots of books with gay/lesbian themes says a lot. To me, if parents want to teach gay issues/rights to their kids in their own homes, that's their right but using taxpayer money for this kind of indoctrination is ridiculous.

I am completely aware that my boys' penises will not fall off if they play with a Barbie Doll. However, they are BOYS. There are chemical differences between boys and girls.....Hello?? Testosterone vs. Estrogen??! Boys and girls are different. They are. Telling them that they are NOT different from each other is a disservice to everyone involved. What purpose does it really serve in confusing our boys and girls about their gender roles? As for the books- lets just say that I won't open that can of worms, but I will say that you will NEVER catch me reading anything like that to my kids. Our world is becoming a very sad place and I really fear what it will be like when my grandchildren become adults.

Interesting that the end of the article states that boys and girls don't have different abilities - in the world I observe, only girls can birth and breastfeed babies. And if a woman and man worked out at the same pace doing the same excercises, I'm willing to bet that the man will build more muscle and end up physically stronger than the woman.
Also, in all the preschools I've worked in, we seperated the toys by use, not gender expectations. Blocks are a building material, kitchen toys are life skills materials. We still encouraged girls to build and boys to dress up, but it doesn't make much sense to have a tower of blocks built right next to an area where kids are walking from the stove to the fridge and likely to knock over their friends' creation.
In response to their book choices, why isn't it equally as important to recognize that families with a mom and a dad are healthy and safe too? Pushing an LGBT agenda but not a straight agenda doesn't seem "equal" to me.
There's nothing wrong with a girl wearing a batman shirt (like my three year old daughter just did to match her batman birthday cake last week!), but you also shouldn't shame her for wanting to wear a Cinderella dress with sparkly shoes. It just seems that they are wanting to push the children in such a neutral direction that they are denying allowing them being traditionally gender specific at all.

I agree with you. It is completely disgusting. Talk about causing more issues and confusion for these kids. They are trading one set of problems for another. Way too extreme. My kid would never go there.

What an excellent way to screw with your kids' minds early in life!!! Who takes their kids there????????

Isn't the point of school, to prepare children for the real world through the years. Like it or not, that's the real world...and it never will be. I think it's unrealistic and setting these kids up for failure and confusion. And bullying.

I think it's alright, I get the idea that they are trying to see through. They aren't really denying the children "gender role" activities, just giving them an environment to explore any that they wish. A boy can play in the kitchen with out pressure or a girl can play with trucks in the sand if she wants and vice versa.

I suppose I've been doing the same with my daughter, yes, she knows she's a girl but I've let her play and pick out her toys and close from all "sections". I try not to pressure her to be girly because I never was, I just want her to be happy and healthy.

What??? Someone needs to read the book " Anthem" by Ayn Rand..Scary stuff.

I see what they are trying to do, but I think they are taking it too far. When my son was younger and at an in home daycare, he played with their toy kitchen, ponies, dolls, etc. This daycare was small and he was the only full time boy. Now that he's older and in a center with more children, he mainly plays with cars, as that is his preference. I still pick him up and he's can be playing with other things, but I have not once heard him say someone made fun of him for playing with a girls toy. I think the bigger issue is teaching children that you don't have to make fun of other children if they are different. And you can still do that by using words like him and her.

I think ahead to 25 years from now, when these children are adults and blaming their parents for all their "issues". That's what I think. Boys and girls are different, and guess what, that is OK!

I think in trying to allow children to be who they really are, we are denying who they actually are. Why can't we just let them find themselves and then accept who they are? How can you find yourself if you never have to look?

this is exactly why we put our kids in a privite christian school and would give up every thing we have to keep paying the tuition.

I understand that they will learn about all the different lifestyles in the world, but they will do so when I am ready to teach them not in preschool.

There is nothing wrong with HIM or HER. We were all made boy or girl. Yes there are some people that were born differently (or think they are different than what they were born) but that doesn't mean that we have to deny the entire world of their natural born identity either!

I think it's RIDICULOUS!! It makes me crazy how far we are taking "allowing kids to be themselves". I'm all for my daughter and son being who they are...my daughter plays soccer and also twirls in her skirt. She wears tennis shoes and the next day dons her princess play heals, jeans, skirts and all this while KNOWING she's a girl!! My son is only 6 months old, but if wants to play with dolls FINE. He'll still know he's a boy.

I have to say I'm surprised people are so worked up about this. First of all there is a difference between gender and sex, sex is determined by whether or not you have a Y chromosome. Gender is determined by your brain. All this school is doing is trying to make it clear to kids that sex does not necessarily determine your gender and that you don't have to fit into a gender stereotype. You can like cars and dolls and that's fine. I don't see how allowing them to sample all of the options and decide for themselves what they like to do is going to screw them up. Not using him or her just allows them to choose friends and activities based on what they like rather than on who looks like them or has the same reproductive equipment. I highly doubt these kids don't know if they are a boy or a girl based on all of their experiences outside of school.

I know at my son's preschool they try to discourage the teachers from forcing students into particular roles based on their sex, but it's not perfect. When a boy and a girl are fighting over one of the princess dresses the girl almost always wins because it's more appropriate for her to wear it than him. If the teacher didn't have the same emphasis on which one was the girl it would probably be more equal.

First of all...it's Sweden. AND radical. Not the norm. Not even there.

Although they (Swededn) DO have it on the agenda to decrease gender boiundaries because they feel boys are given an unfair advantage in school.

BUT it kind of makes me think that if people everywhere had always been accepting of their kids', neighbors', coworkers', families' etc gender identity, it wouldn't have to be mandated--anywhere?

Hello? Prejudice, anyone?