Quit a while ago I found a book, Girls Will Be Girls,
http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Will-Confident-Courageous-Daughters/dp/078686768X I don't know if I agree with all of it but I found it interesting. This thread reminded me of it and I thought I would post a paragraph from it.
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Provided in an enjoyable was these early against-the-grain gender experiences help create a well balanced brain that is better equipped to handle the range of tasks and challenges the brain will have to contend with all through life. This concept can be expanded to many areas. Young girls need to be spending time in all of the areas that they are not as hardwired to choose early on of their own accord:
Gross motor tasks: skipping, riding a bike, climbing
Spatial tasks: puzzles, tangrams, carpentry, orienteering
Strategy and problem solving: team games and sports, checkers
Risk taking: doing anything that takes a bit of courage on a particular girl's part.
This can range tremendously by individual.
If you have a 20 percent girl, then she needs to spend more time on:
Fine motor tasks: painting, drawing, tying, zipping
Auditory tasks: books on tape, rhyming, reading poems and stories aloud
Sequential and detailed thinking: hidden word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, putting things in order, alphabetizing
Connecting with others: cooperative play, volunteer work
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