Raising a new generation of boys and girls
Michael Gurian, the New York Times bestselling author of the "Wonder of Boys" and "Boys and Girls Learn Differently", spoke to a national parenting conference Monday in Dallas about how to raise children in a high pressure world.
Modern science is helping explain what many parents know intuitively: that boys and girls experience life at school and home differently, Mr. Gurian said in the keynote address to an audience of several hundred at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria.
Typically, boys' brains are geared more toward spatial-mechanical aptitude. That's why little boys love to play with trucks or any other object moving through space. Girls are more verbal, even from an early age. They relate to each other and to their toys more with words, while boys are more likely to relate in nonverbal ways.
What significance does this have for parents and educators? Well, for one thing, boys are kinetic, so if we let them move around in the classroom, it will help them learn. Boys' tend to "zone out" faster than girls because girls' brains favor learning verbally better than boys'.
The conference continues Tuesday.