2009, p.258). This is evident around age five or six, when children realize that although a girl may have short hair "like a boy" she is still a girl or even though a man has long hair he is still a man. Children understand that although clothing, hair and physical appearance may change, the gender does not.
During the preschool years with the emerging sense of self, and the acceptance of their gender, children still have the task of identifying their roles and behaviors within their specific gender. This is explored one way through social learning, in which theorists believe that parents take a part in shaping a child's sex role and behavior through reinforcement. Parents often buy children toys and clothes as well as enroll them in activities that are more gender specific. These normal parenting actions are very impactful in establishing a youngsters sense of gender identity. If a boy receives play cars, john deer tractors, army type clothing, the child relates those things to being a boy. Girls are more often dresses in pinks and purples, play with dolls, are kept cleaner and more fussed about the way they look. "Some evidence also suggests that toddlers whose parents are more consistent in rewarding sex typed toy choices or play behavior, and who's mothers favor traditional family sex roles, learn accurate gender labels earlier than toddlers who's parents are less focused on the gender-appropriateness of the child's play"(Boyd, Bee, Johnson, 2009. P.256). At the age of two my daughter started dancing and there were not boys in her classes until she was about six. Then along came a boy in her jazz class and the questions came out. Why is he in dance? Isn't dance only for girls? Until that time N thought that it was only appropriate for girls to dance and I had to explain to her that dancing is for everyone to enjoy, weather you're a girl or boy. Just as she rides a quad and gets out a gets dirty as boys would, there really isn't a problem with boys and girls taking part in "gender specific" sports.