Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue: How to Raise Your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes

CHRISTIA SPEARS BROWN, PhD, is an associate professor of developmental psychology at the University of Kentucky. Her work on the impact of gender stereotypes on children and adolescents has been published widely in scientific journals and featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, local radio shows, NPR, and the CBS Evening News. She blogs regularly for Psychology Today in her column "Beyond Pink and Blue." She is also an expert panelist for the ACLU.

A guide that helps parents focus on their children's unique strengths and inclinations rather than on gendered stereotypes to more effectively bring out the best in their individual children, for parents of infants to middle schoolers. 

Reliance on Gendered Stereotypes Negatively Impacts Kids

Studies on gender and child development show that, on average, parents talk less to baby boys and are less likely to use numbers when speaking to little girls. Without meaning to, we constantly color-code children, segregating them by gender based on their presumed interests. Our social dependence on these norms has far-reaching effects, such as leading girls to dislike math or increasing aggression in boys.

In this practical guide, developmental psychologist (and mother of two) Christia Spears Brown uses science-based research to show how over-dependence on gender can limit kids, making it harder for them to develop into unique individuals. With a humorous, fresh, and accessible perspective, Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue addresses all the issues that contemporary parents should consider from gender-segregated birthday parties and schools to sports, sexualization, and emotional intelligence. This guide empowers parents to help kids break out of pink and blue boxes to become their authentic selves.

Prologue On Being the Weird Daughter-in-Law               

Part I
Gender Differences: changing our focus
Chapter 1 Noticing Gender               
Chapter 2 Why Labels Matter               
Chapter 3 Why We Focus on Gender Differences              

Part II
gender facts: science and stereotypes
Chapter 4 There Are Gender Differences            
Chapter 5 How Different Is Different?            
Chapter 6 Decoding Neuroscience            

Part III
raising unique (fun, well-rounded, smarter, and happier) kids
Chapter 7 How Children Help Create the Differences We See        
Chapter 8 Parenting a Stereotype         
Chapter 9 Accidentally Shaping Who Children Become        
Chapter 10 Stereotype Sneak Attacks        
Chapter 11 Separate but Equal? An Old Problem Is New Again       
epilogue Dropping the Stereotypes and Picking Your Battles    
 
notes        
about the author
index