Santrock reports, many parents encourage boys and girls to engage in different types of play and activities.

Beverly Fagot and Richard Hagan (1991), for example, found that fathers gave fewer positive reactions to boys engaging in female-typical toy play, and mothers gave more instructions to girls when they attempted to communicate.

1) How is gender constructed and communicated from the moment a child is born (and before)?

2) How do parents reward and punish boys and girls differently and thereby contribute to gender differences in behaviors, abilities, and beliefs?

3) Did your mother/father treat you differently than your other sex sibling?

4) Did your mother/father influence you in different ways?

5) Did your mother/father engage in different activities with you?

6) Did you behave differently with each parent?

7) Could your behavior have affected your parents behavior toward you?

8) How will this information affect the way I work with young children?