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Original poster

Gender divide in schools

53 replies

Juno77 · 20/01/2014 15:09

This has come off the back of a thread, not a TAAT though.

It seems a lot of people on MN have children who have birthday parties and only invite children from school of the same gender.

My DS has always had mixed parties; when he complies his guest lists he seems to have a fairly even number of boys and girls, and he gets invited to leads of girls parties(he is 9).

There doesn't seem to be this gender divide that I keep seeing on MN.

So I wonder. Is this a parental influence? A school influence? Or just the luck of the class group you are in?

OP posts:
purpleroses · 20/01/2014 15:21

It depends at least partly on your child I think.

My DD is 10 and has always invited boys and girls to her parties - and plays happily with either sex.

DS however invited girls until about age 5 or 6 (and before that they were really just my friends' children who he played with out of school) But after that he's really had no interest in inviting girls. Friendship patterns beyond 5 are really formed during school and I don't think you have very much influence over them as a parent.

Original poster
Juno77 · 20/01/2014 15:16

I find it really odd.

Why would someone only invite girls to a sparkle fairy party? Unless their child wasn't making friends with the opposite gender, in which case there must be a reason, and I am inclined to agree it must be the parents influence.

PS - your daughter sounds great - DS would love a deadly 60 party!

OP posts:
Enb76 · 20/01/2014 15:13

I think it must be partly parental. My daughter is going to various parties and some are strictly gender divided. One is a sparkle fairy party, just five girls going and it's craft based glitter and glue stuff, another is a wild west party for boys and girls, my daughter wants to have a deadly 60 party and will invite some boys and girls (10 max) she's not just friends with girls so she wants a party that both can happily go to, she realises at 5 that boys don't want to go to parties about princesses. I would encourage mixed parties in general.

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