to be annoyed with this sexist reading advice sent home from school?

[morningpaper]

"Until the day your daughter expresses an interest in rocket science or your son gets into showjumping, you won?t go far wrong if you try them out with these kinds of books?

Boys...

• Enjoy books about their interests - especially dinosaur ones!
  
• Like books that are a bit scary, funny or have silly jokes.
  
• Often have a shorter attention span, so books you can dip in and out of may work better for them. Try comic strip books and non fiction.
  
• Prefer big, bold, colourful illustrations or things that can be moved or touched.
  
• Like reading to have a purpose, for example books that show you how to make things or tell you about things.
  
  Girls...
  
  
• Enjoy series of books about the same characters.
  
• Like to listen to talking books and watch DVDs of favourite books.
  
• Enjoy a bit of fantasy, magic and make believe ? princesses, castles and so on.
  
• Like sparkle and glitter on the pages.
  
• Enjoy books that have props with them ? dolls, soft toys, dressing-up clothes."

[hertsnessex]

yep

[LuckySalem]

[NoBiggyTurkeyHereThanks]

My daughter likes rocket science.

And glitter.

Did the school come up with that?

[AlanPartridgeInAPearTree]

is this for real? What age of child was this sent home with?

are you sure this is not the results of some in-house survey they have done, ie, it actually is what the girls/boys have SAID they prefer when asked

agree it is patronising and sexist, how bizarre !!

[WotsThatSkippy]

What a complete load of shit.

[Miyazaki]

I think i've seen that -

isn't it the book people leaflet?

[Threadworrm]

That really is shit isn't it. Might just as well say: 'Boys aren't going to read proper books so don't bother trying; girls will only like sparkly crap.'

[cory]

This seems to be more prevalent now than when I was a child in the sixties. I certainly read enough adventure stories and was well up on dinosaurs; didn't occur to anyone that this wasn't girly enough


How is your son going to get into showjumping unless someone admits that this might be a reasonable thing for a boy to be interested in? (and incidentally, aren't some of the best know showjumpers men?)

[Threadworrm]

Reinforces my view that school is only about learning the mechanics of reading -- home is where they learn about books.

[mrsmortenharket]

dd likes princesses, fairies and cars and football.

[hatwoman]

utter load of shite.I would be really annoyed.

[AlanPartridgeInAPearTree]

and my friends Y7 son is excellent at show jumping, he has bin liners full of rosettes and medals, and DD has a girl friend who hates fairies and glitter and is dinosaur mad and has been since a toddler!

[DBXmum]

I think that perhaps YABU to be annoyed by this. Ultimately, it's about getting children to read and this is advice aimed at achieving this objective. You can choose to ignore it if you really feel it to be sexist. Go ahead, prove them wrong and turn the tables.

[NotanOtter]

I am absolutley aghast at that..

you should go to the papers seriously

what hope is there?

also what happened to a love of books for books sake ? dvd's/glitter/touchy feely

[mrsmortenharket]

agree with comment about schools and books.

[AlanPartridgeInAPearTree]

Oh, so it was not actually from the school then, was it from a book catalogue?

[morningpaper]

It's on the website too

sponsored by Leapfrog

here

[hatwoman]

threadworm - I read it as "boys are going to grow up to be purposeful and practical...girls are headed for la la land..."

[PopBitch]

WHAAAT?

This is mad and sexist and horrible, I'd complain.

[Umlellala]

[morningpaper]

Go ahead, prove them wrong and turn the tables.

I doubt that I will personally change hundreds of years of sexism, particularly when it is still being perpetrated by this sort of crap

Daughters and rocket science - how laughable!

FFS

[NoPresentsInVictorianSqualor]

Although I completely agree that masculine and feminine stereotypes are there for a reason (i.e quite a lot of them fit a large amount of us) I think this is ridiculous.
DS's favourite stories are ones I make up myself about bobby the spaceman who travels to different lands to meet fairies and princesses. DD prefers to read books about snakes and hurricanes...

[NotanOtter]

dbx mum

i dont actually believe leap people are soley ineterested in getting children reading

they are keen for you to get sucked into buying their dvds etc

[Threadworrm]

Books with 'props' (other than for pre-schoolers) just need to be torn apart with the teeth and flushed down the toilet.