Goals
Brief description of the issue
In the Gespe’gewa’gi, boys as young as five years old are lagging behind in terms of their emotional development maturity (DSPGÎM, 2017). Boys’ difficulties in reading and writing skills are also one factor that is linked to their school dropout rate, which is higher than girls’ (Boyer, 2009). As for girls from Gespe’gewa’gi, they are lagging behind in terms of global motricity (DSPGÎM, 2017). Making sure you organize activities for all children that allow them to develop all areas can help reduce these inequalities.
The Government of Nova Scotia has put together a booklet that looks at 5 big areas in which children learn and develop:
- physical health and well-being
- emotional development
- communication skills and general knowledge
- social development
- language and thinking skills
When you intentionally organize activities in those five areas for both boys and girls in your group, you are making sure they develop skills that they might have underdeveloped because of gendered socialization, meaning we, as adults, tend to repeatedly suggest some activities to girls and some others to boys.
For each area, activities and books are recommended. You can find this guide in the documents section below, or by visiting their website : https://www.ednet.ns.ca/earlyyears/
Documents
References
BOYER, Marie-Christine (2009). La lecture et l’écriture chez les garçons… de A à Z. Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, Québec. http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/PSG/statistiques_info_decisionnelle/LaLectureEtLEcritureChezLesGarcons_DeAaZ.pdf
DIRECTION DE SANTÉ PUBLIQUE GASPÉSIE–ÎLES-DE-LA-MADELEINE (2017). Le développement des enfants gaspésiens et madelinots à la maternelle, Gouvernement du Québec. https://www.cisss-gaspesie.gouv.qc.ca/images/Statistiques_regionales/Le_d%C3%A9veloppement_des_enfants_gasp%C3%A9siens_et_madelinots_%C3%A0_la_maternelle_-_EQDEM_2017.pdf