Guidance Matters
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Guidance With Girls
Layna Cole and Dan Gartrell
In a classroom of 4-year-olds Stephon, Andrus, and
Voshon play “fireman,” using the climber for the fire
station and the dramatic play area for the house on
fire. Stepping onto the climber, Charlene tries to join
the play, but Stephon tells her, “You can’t be a fireman ’cause you’re a girl. Only boys can be firemen.”
Charlene scowls and nevertheless tries to join them
on the climber, but the boys yell at her. Charlene sits
on the floor and looks mad. Teacher Maya, who has
seen the incident, sits down next to Charlene and
puts her arm around her. “You look upset, Charlene.”
With tears in her eyes, Charlene exclaims, “I want
to play too! Girls can put out fires.”
“Yes, they can, Charlene,” Maya responds. “You
are right. Both girls and boys can be firefighters.
Let’s talk to the boys.”
They move to the climber, and Maya says, “Hey,
guys, do you remember the book we read about firefighters? Men and women fight fires together. That’s
why we call them firefighters instead of firemen.”
Stephon replies, “But this game is for boys, OK,
Teacher?” Maya maintains an even, friendly tone in
refuting this statement: “Our classroom agreement
is that girls and boys play together. Charlene is unhappy that you don’t want her to play with you. How
can Charlene help you fight this fire?”
Stephon looks at the other two fire crew members
and shrugs: “Charlene can steer on the back of the
truck, ’cause you gotta steer there too. Look, a fire!”
The four children race to the wooden bench that
is the fire truck. Voshon hands Charlene a helmet.
Charlene steers from the back, grinning.
While they are fighting the fire, Charlene notices
two dolls, picks them up, and carries them to the
fire truck. “I’m saving the babies,” she calls out.
“Charlene saved the babies!” the other firefighters
shout. On the way back to the fire station, Charlene
sits in the middle of the fire truck, proudly holding
the babies she has saved. The four firefighters play
together until cleanup time.
After cleanup, Maya has a quiet talk with Charlene
and then with the three boys. The teacher reminds
the children that women as well as men are firefighters. She compliments Charlene for thinking
to save the babies and encourages the three boys
to remember next time that girls and boys play
together at school, including as firefighters.
The follow-up
Maya talked with her coteacher, Margo, and the aide,
Darius, about the incident. She told them how she had
intervened when the boys wanted to exclude Charlene
because she was a girl. The team agreed that the use of
firm but friendly guidance in gender equality matters is
important. Margo suggested that they discuss exclusion
based on gender with the rest of the class. They decided
to talk about it at group meeting the next day. Darius
gave Maya contact information for a firefighter friend—a
woman who had visited the school in the past.
The following week the female firefighter visited
the preschoolers. She arrived in street clothes and, with
the class’s participation, discussed, put on, and demonstrated her firefighting gear. The teacher took a picture
of the class with the firefighter. The team put it up in
the library corner, along with featured gender-balanced
books about community helpers. That same day, Maya
noticed Charlene and Della playing firefighters with two
boys. The teacher was pleased that her guidance had
helped girls gain entry into boys’ play and helped boys
accept girls in their play.
The strategy
Both Charlene and the boys needed, and Maya provided,
assistance in resolving the archetypical girl–boy conflict
in determining membership in the firefighters’ group.
Maya supported Charlene by recognizing her frustration, listening to her, acknowledging her feelings and
views, and modeling creative problem solving. She used
the occasion to affirm Charlene’s feelings that she was
capable and strong and to validate Charlene’s expectation that she would not be excluded, especially based on
her gender.
Maya guided Stephon, Andrus, and Voshon by not
accepting the assumption that it was OK to exclude girls
from firefighting play while helping them to consider
a new perspective. Through her leadership, Maya was
teaching the three boys (and good guidance is always
teaching) to move beyond stereotypes, manage their
emotions, and be inclusive in their play.
By inviting a female firefighter to talk to the children,
the teaching team followed up with a planned learning
experience reflecting gender equality in adult life. Adult
visitors who work in non-gender-typical careers, such as
female dentists and male nurses, can counter children’s
early prejudices about what women and men can do. The
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May 2014 Young Children
57
A
Guidance With Girls:
Other Dimensions
dditional Guidance Matters columns in Young
Children (www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/
guidance) about good guidance with girls:
■■ “Democratic Life Skill Three: Solving Problems
Creatively—Independently and in Cooperation
With Others,” July 2013
■■ “Democratic Life Skill Two: Guiding Children to
Express Strong Emotions in Nonhurting Ways,”
March 2013
■■ “Children Who Have Serious Conflicts—Part 2:
Instrumental Aggression,” July 2011
■■ “Competition: What Place in Our Programs?,”
March 2007
nascent gender prejudices. Teachers using guidance set the
expectation and lead children to understand that gender
does not limit opportunities. Girls and boys both can fight
fires, save lives, tame lions, and care for babies. Early childhood professionals teach boys to accept girls in traditional
“boy play” and support girls in recognizing the array of role
choices they have in the early childhood classroom and in
life (Manaster & Jobe 2012).
For additional reading, consider the Research in Review
article, “Using Queer Theory to Rethink Gender Equity in
Early Childhood Education,” by Mindy Blaise and Affrica
Taylor, in the January 2012 issue of Young Children.
References
Copple, C., & S. Bredekamp, eds. 2009. Developmentally Appropriate
Practice in Programs Serving Children From Birth Through Age 8. 3rd
ed. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Derman-Sparks, L., & J. Olsen Edwards. 2012. Anti-Bias Education for
Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
teaching team also became more intentional about using
gender-inclusive displays in the classroom and introducing
literature focusing on gender equality.
The interactive nature of spontaneous and planned
teaching activities can be powerful tools for helping young
children learn fundamentals of civil living both within and
beyond the learning community (Derman-Sparks & Olsen
Edwards 2012). In addition, this series of events illustrates
the practice of emergent curriculum—the planning and use
of curriculum ideas generated through the teaching team’s
awareness of spontaneous experiences significant to the
children (Copple & Bredekamp 2009).
It is important for early childhood professionals to
remember that 4-year-olds have fewer than 60 months of
life experience in learning high-level social skills: gaining
acceptance—and accepting others—in groups, managing
strong emotions, and solving problems creatively (Gartrell
2012). Through their leadership in everyday situations,
teachers need to be conscious and intentional about what
and how they contribute to young children’s understandings about gender (Manaster & Jobe 2012). In using guidance, teachers work with girls and boys together while
keeping in mind the unique needs of each child. Maya
supported Charlene’s tenacity and Stephon’s developing
leadership skills by the way in which she mediated the
children’s conflict.
Past Guidance Matters columns have examined the
challenges many young boys and girls face in early childhood environments that do not accommodate children’s
need to be physically active (Gartrell 2006; Gartrell & Sonsteng 2008). Because Maya allowed active firefighter play,
she could move past this widespread “classroom decorum”
issue and focus her leadership on another enduring early
childhood challenge: guiding children to move beyond
November 2014 Young Children n www.naeyc.org/yc
Gartrell, D.J. 2006. “Boys and Men Teachers.” Guidance Matters.
Young Children 61 (3): 92–93. www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200605/
GuidanceBTJ.pdf.
Gartrell, D.J. 2012. Education for a Civil Society: How Guidance Teaches
Young Children Democratic Life Skills. Washington, DC: NAEYC
Gartrell, D.J., & K. Sonsteng. 2008. “Promote Physical Activity—It’s
Proactive Guidance.” Guidance Matters. Young Children 63 (2): 51–53.
www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200803/BTJ_Guidance.pdf.
Manaster, H., & M. Jobe. 2012. “Bringing Boys and Girls Together: Supporting Preschoolers’ Positive Peer Relationships.” Young Children 67
(5): 12–17. www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201211/Manaster.pdf.
Layna Cole, PhD, is an associate professor of early childhood
education in the School of Teaching and Learning at Minnesota
State University Moorhead.
Dan Gartrell, EdD, is emeritus professor of early childhood
and foundations education at Bemidji State University in
northern Minnesota. Dan is the author of several Young
Children articles and primary author of the Guidance Matters
column. Two of Dan’s books, published by NAEYC, are The
Power of Guidance: Teaching Social-Emotional Skills in Early
Childhood Classrooms and Education for a Civil Society: How
Guidance Teaches Young Children Democratic Life Skills.
The Guidance Matters column is taking a hiatus. NAEYC
thanks Dan Gartrell for his many contributions to Young Children
and to the early childhood field. All the columns are available on
NAEYC’s website at www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/guidance.
Visit NAEYC’s online store at www.naeyc.org/store to purchase
Dan’s books.
Copyright © 2014 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children—1313
L Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005. See Permissions and Reprints online at
www.naeyc.org/yc/permissions.
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