While babies may be blind to gender, children, especially starting at round 3 years of age, soon learn to differentiate and adopt various preferences with regard to gender during their interactions. The adage that “boys will always be boys” and “girls will always be girls” is a great example that portrays that children also have their preferences during their socialization. Girls are known to indulge in more nurturing and motherly type of games and behaviors while boys on the other hand likes the rough and tumble types of games. In light of this explanation, I will seek to further expound on the question as to whether children mostly prefer to play with same sex or opposite sex. To better expound on this topic of study, I will use my own observation as well as previously research studies focusing on children play preferences.
Previous research has influenced many to take on the role in determining children’s play preferences. For my informal observation I thought it would be a great idea to take on this particular role. I wanted to determine if children at the age of three interact more with the same sex or opposite sex. Numerous studies have indicated that children within this age group begin showing a clear preference in which sex they interact with (Serbin, Moller, Gulko, Powlishta, & Colburne, 1994). Furthermore, according to another study, it has been said that boys prefer more physical activities while girls are more likely to enjoy indoor activities (Smith & Inder, 1990).
With this being said , another reason why children may be only interacting with the same sex is because of how much physical activity the boys do which often leads to aggression. Often time’s boys like to run around and get dirty; sometimes they will even choose to push others. Playing chase, freeze tag, superhero games, and any type of sport might be too aggressive for girls. These two studies are great explanations in the reasons why children choose to play with same sex during this particular age group. Before observing the children I hypothesized that children would play with the same sex.
A total of two observations were conduced at separate times. Both of my observations took place at the California State University, Northridge children center. The children that were observed were three years of age. My observations were conducted during outdoor play periods, which were held for about twenty minutes of their playtime. I decided to use a clipboard to help keep track of all the observations I was able to get in my twenty minute time period. I then decided to make separate columns, which consisted of: Same, Opposite, or Alone.
I was able to clearly determine that girls preferred to play mainly with same sex, however, boys interacted somewhat with both sexes. Often time children would be playing and others would just tag along. Girls would be in groups of three while boys would be playing alone. For example, the boy I chose to observe seemed as if he was content with playing alone. As for my hypothesis, my results proved it to be wrong. The boys were more flexible in interacting with opposite sex than girls. In addition, I found this study very limited due to the fact that I only observed two children. If I had observed at least ten more children I would have been capable to gain more accurate results.
Performing these observations made me realize that this age group really does interact with a particular sex. However, in the end there are many benefits by children being able to interact with both sexes.
Works Cited
Serbin, Lisa A., et al. "The emergence of gender segregation in toddler
playgroups." New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 1994.65 (1994): 7-17.
Smith, Anne B., and Patricia M. Inder. "The relationship of classroom
organisation to cross‐age and cross‐sex friendships." Educational Psychology 10.2 (1990): 127-140.
