To be appalled that my 4yo thinks only men can be doctors?

[fadingfast]

And that only women are nurses?! I really have no idea where this is coming from. He is going through a stage of distinguishing 'boys' things and 'girls' things so I suppose it is all part of learning about gender identity. I was (am) just really and a bit that somehow these gender stereotypes are still filtering through.

OP, I just asked DS1 (5) this. He answered the same as your DC. I have put him right

no, it's just a stage, my mum and aunt are both drs and my brother said the same thing around about this age. they are putting together information about different categories - what is always true (mothers are always women) what is sometimes true (drs are sometimes men) and what is never true (swans are never blue).

Kids get these ideas from all sorts of sources, not just the real people they see. One that always irritates me is dress-up costumes. Have you ever noticed that the police officer, firefighter, doctor and vet costumes, if modelled by a child at all, are always (ime) modelled by a boy? And the only nurse costume you ever see is unlike any real nurse uniform that's been worn for 20 years or more (in the NHS, at least) and is always shown on a girl.

I did read a very pleasing (IMO) statistic that over 50% of the graduate intake reading medicine were female. Tell your DS that he is waaay out of date and that he will need to pull his socks up to get ahead of girls nowadays (sadly true).

A few days ago, my 4yo niece told me that DD (10 wks) can't be a girl because she doesn't have long hair

Ivykaty are you my DH? He used to believe exactly the same re cats and dogs!

YABU - he is 4. They get more sophisticated and worldly as they get older.

Message withdrawn

you're at the wrong hospital! dd had 3 ops on friday and all three surgeons and the aneathtists were women

categorizing objects (sometimes inaccurately and crudely) is a vital part of development, "The interaction between individual and environment is simplified by dealing with categories of things rather than with unique events or objects. As Glass et al (1979, p.327) point out, categorisation is a 'powerful tool for organising memory and thought'." www.iier.org.au/qjer/qr6/gilmore.html
So yes, you are being unreasonable to be 'appalled'.
Of course four year olds make mistakes. They are four.

Was reading about bilingualism yesterday; came across a case of a small boy who thought all men spoke English and all women spoke French. At this age, they are still trying to get the world sorted; of course they'll get it wrong from time to time; it's only us grown-ups who know enough to be embarrassed by some of their misunderstandings and find certain other ones cute.

basemother
My dc's did that too
Now I drive