RAR #107: Dr. Michael Gurian on The Minds of Girls
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)
Click the play button below:
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
Links from this episode:
- RAR Membership
- 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.”
Books from this episode:
(All links are affiliate links.)
I LOVED this podcast! This was my very first RAR podcast, and I found it very interesting. I definitely found the tips about tech and about listening for 3-5 mins without interrupting really helpful. I love learning about parenting tips based on brain science.
I have to say that when I was a little girl I did definitely notice that there did not seem to be much books or shows about girls, and I felt that way long before 10 yrs old. I may have been able to relate to the male characters, perhaps, but I didn’t like that they seemed so predominantly male. I actually complained to my mom that the Winnie the Pooh series had all of these male characters and the only female was the Kanga, the mom. And she was never an important character. I always felt that Rabbit and Piglet should have been female :) I still loved the books and the show, but I certainly did pick up on the lack of girls.
As a mama of 3 girls, I found amightygirl.com and we were never without great female characters and role models again. Highly recommended.
Thanks for a great podcast – I will be sharing this :)
This was a life changing episode for me and I just shared on FB for anyone else it might help. I was considering getting my 11 and 8 year olds smart watches for Christmas – where they can call/text like 3 people – to hopefully “responsibly” introduce them to technology. However, after hearing how texting can induce anxiety in girls, too, that is now off the table, as well. I am grateful for all your work, but especially grateful for this podcast. Will get the book for more details and then go back and listen to episode 88 to hear his thoughts on boys. Thanks again!
Glad to hear it, MaryBeth!