Gender identity ponderings.
No this isn't about anything or anyone in particular, just ponderings in general. When do we develop our gender identity?
I was watching possetpossum and her best friend F the other day at nursery. One of the other children referred to F as a boy by mistake and was corrected by possetpossum, F then shushed her and said something along the lines that she liked to pretend to be a boy.
I discussed this with my partner when I got home and was informed that F always chose to be a prince when they played make-believe. I also remembered that her mum had told me that she refuses to wear any "girly" clothes at all, which is kind of unusual as at this age (4) boys and girls are pretty much equally attracted to shiny pretty things. So F can usually be seen in trousers/shorts a t-shirt and her baseball cap with her long hair back in a pony tail as she refuses to wear it down.
In contrast possetpossum will rush to correct anyone who calls her a boy (presumably hence her defence of F) and likes all things pink, shiny, sparkly and girly. I frequently lose her in shoe shops as she likes to dart in and look at shoes, she desperately wants "clip-clop" shoes (ones with heels) and likes to pretend to be a princess of any and all descriptions (princess dinosaur, princess cat, princess pirate, etc).
Just intrigued because basically neither I nor F's mum have encouraged this behaviour either way, it just seems to have developed of its own accord.
I was watching possetpossum and her best friend F the other day at nursery. One of the other children referred to F as a boy by mistake and was corrected by possetpossum, F then shushed her and said something along the lines that she liked to pretend to be a boy.
I discussed this with my partner when I got home and was informed that F always chose to be a prince when they played make-believe. I also remembered that her mum had told me that she refuses to wear any "girly" clothes at all, which is kind of unusual as at this age (4) boys and girls are pretty much equally attracted to shiny pretty things. So F can usually be seen in trousers/shorts a t-shirt and her baseball cap with her long hair back in a pony tail as she refuses to wear it down.
In contrast possetpossum will rush to correct anyone who calls her a boy (presumably hence her defence of F) and likes all things pink, shiny, sparkly and girly. I frequently lose her in shoe shops as she likes to dart in and look at shoes, she desperately wants "clip-clop" shoes (ones with heels) and likes to pretend to be a princess of any and all descriptions (princess dinosaur, princess cat, princess pirate, etc).
Just intrigued because basically neither I nor F's mum have encouraged this behaviour either way, it just seems to have developed of its own accord.