Dr. Michael Gurian is back! You may remember him from Episode 82 of the podcast, when he joined us to talk about the minds of boys (and why fidgeting is a good sign!).
But today he is here to chat with us about the minds of girls.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- the unique learning challenges girls face (some of these might surprise you!)
- why we need to listen differently with our girls… and how to do that
- Is there really such a thing as ‘girl drama’? (ahem)
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Listener Guide
Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast:
- 2:08 Dr. Gurian is back!
- 3:55 Challenges girls face
- 5:36 Processing differences (white matter versus gray matter)
- 9:29 3 things that affect girls’ learning
- 10:57 How girls communicate
- 14:42 We need to listen
- 17:29 Social media
- 23:15 ‘Pruning period’
- 25:12 ‘Girl drama’
- 29:47 Processing through emotional drama
- 33:03 Trusting ourselves in parenting
- 34:26 Books he read with his girls
- 38:22 Let the kids speak
More free resources and booklists
Get the best episodes and reources
from the Read-Aloud Revival
More free resources and booklists
Get the best episodes and reources
from the Read-Aloud Revival
Links from this episode:
- RAR Membership
- Get the FREE booklist and more – go to readaloudrevial.com or text BOOKS to 345345
- RAR #82: Why Fidgeting is a Good Sign (and what brain science says about reading aloud), Dr. Michael Gurian
- Gurian Institute — learn more about Dr. Gurian’s work here
- Dr. Gurian’s site
A few quotes from Dr. Gurian from this episode:
“For homeschool teachers and parents… when you’re looking at your little girls and boys, if math and science is an area you want them to do well in later, have the girls play a lot with Legos, have them move objects around, and build things so that they develop a little more of those gray matter spatial areas that a lot of boy brains are already set to develop naturally.”
“Girls really do need you to listen. They don’t need us to listen for a half hour, but they need us to listen for a few minutes. They need us to listen for a period of time, and they need us to do some amount of reflecting back in order to feel validated. Generally, once they’ve started repeating themselves, that’s when we know, ‘OK, they’ve processed and we can probably interrupt now.’”
“Part of what I think we have to do now— in the new millennium- is actually convince all of us that the way dads do things also have merit naturally. Just the way they are, they have merit.”
(Download the transcript above for more quotes and pull-outs.)
Books from this episode:
(All links are Amazon affiliate links.)
The Chronicles of Narnia
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Good, evil; battles, betrayals; this classic series begins with either The Magician’s Nephew, or The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (depending on who you ask!). There are 7 books in all -- one filled with more adventure and fantasy than the next.
More info →
Goodnight Moon
FROM SARAH
Soothing words and charming illustrations have made this Margaret Wise Brown book a classic. Say goodnight with Bunny to the great green room, the light and the red balloon
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this classic of children's literature, beloved by generations of readers and listeners, the quiet poetry of the words and the gentle, lulling illustrations combine to make a perfect book for the end of the day.
More info →
Corduroy
FROM THE PUBLISHER
2018 marks Corduroy’s 50th anniversary, and Don Freeman’s classic character is even more popular today than he was when he first came on the scene. Now his original story is available in an unabridged, sturdy board book format, perfect for even the youngest readers.
More info →
Winnie-the-Pooh
Littles love these sweet stories, but older kids will get more of A.A. Milne’s humor. Pooh, Piglet, Eyeore and the whole gang are sweet and always overcoming a new challenge.
More info →
To Kill a Mockingbird
*Description from Amazon: The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an A...
More info →
Little House on the Prairie (Little House, No 3)
**Description from Amazon: The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they are planting and plowin...
More info →
Saving Our Sons: A New Path for Raising Healthy and Resilient Boys
**Description from Amazon: Boys and their communities are challenged today in ways they have not been before. Dr. Michael Gurian has studied and served children and their families for thirty years. His The Wonder of Boys (1996), is credited with sparking the "boys’ movement." In Saving Our Sons, he features the latest resea...
More info →
The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men
**Description from Amazon: "THE WONDER OF BOYS is a provocative book that electrifies the debate over how this nation raises sons." — USA Today In this insightful and practical book, Michael Durian describes what boys need to become strong, responsible, sensitive men. Instead of encouraging us to stifle boys' natural prop...
More info →
The Wonder of Girls: Understanding the Hidden Nature of Our Daughters
**Description from Amazon: A revolutionary approach to raising girls that combines groundbreaking research with practical parenting advice.In The Wonder of Girls, as in its predecessor, The Wonder of Boys, Michael Gurian presents radical and enlightening views of parenting. Using as his springboard up-to-date scientific resea...
More info →
Boys and Girls Learn Differently! A Guide for Teachers and Parents
**Description from Amazon: A thoroughly revised edition of the classic resource for understanding gender differences in the classroom In this profoundly significant book, author Michael Durian has revised and updated his groundbreaking book that clearly demonstrated how the distinction in hard-wiring and socialized gender dif...
More info →
Nurture the Nature: Understanding and Supporting Your Child’s Unique Core Personality
**Description from Amazon: From Michael Durian, the best-selling author of The Minds of Boys and The Wonder of Girls, comes the next-step book that shows how any parent can tune into a child’s unique core personality, hard wiring, temperament, and genetic predisposition in order to help that child flourish and thrive. Based...
More info →
The Minds of Girls: A New Path for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Successful Women
**Description from Amazon: Dr. Michael Gurian has studied and served children for thirty years. In The Wonder of Girls (2002), he presented a science-based approach to raising healthy and successful daughters. In the Minds of Girls, he pioneers new and intuitive approaches to health and wellness in all three important areas o...
More info →
Peter Pan
**Description from Amazon: First composed as a play in 1904 and subsequently as a novel in 1911, James Matthew Barrie’s “Peter Pan” is one of the greatest fantasy tales ever written. Inspired by Barrie’s friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family, the story concerns its titular character, Peter Pan, a boy who refuses ...
More info →
