Dr. Rebecca Hains

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Can girls be doctors? Preschool art project says “no.” (Reader story)

Why are we still teaching our children that DOCTOR = MALE in 2014? There’s no good reason. A guest post by reader Julie Danahy Hebeisen My friend Julie is a non-profit event planner in the Boston area and a married first-time mother to…

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Unwanted Touching: Unacceptable at Any Age (Yes, Even Age 6)

In this week’s news, a 6-year-old boy in Colorado was suspended from school. The reason? He had repeatedly kissed one of his classmates, despite her telling him to stop. The girl’s mother, Jade Masters-Ownbey, noted that the boy’s behavior had been…

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Teaching our boys about consent and respect from an early age

In the Steubenville rape trials, the social and digital media trail proved that many boys were complicit in the rapes of Jane Doe–not just the two who were found guilty. Chillingly, these boys seem like they could be anyone’s son….

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Sofia the Not-So-Latina-After-All

Months ago, Disney announced that a new Disney Channel cartoon, Sofia the First, would be released this year, targeting girls ages 2 to 7. With the title character a little girl, rather than a teenager, Disney promised that Sofia the First…

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Media literacy for preschoolers, pt. 4: Tips and resources

This week, I’ve been writing about how parents can help their preschoolers become media literate. [See: Part 1: how media work, Part 2: media content, Part 3: media creation.] For my wrap-up post in this series, I’d like to share…

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Media literacy for preschoolers, pt. 3: Understanding that media are created

This week, I’m writing about media literacy and the preschool set, and talking about how I’ve been actively helping my little boy become a media literate person. First, I shared the kinds of conversations we have about how the media…

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Media literacy for preschoolers: Explaining how the media work

Media literacy is a concept that’s often taught in schools–though not often enough, in my opinion. Being media literate means having the ability to think critically about media content, as well as an understanding of how the media work. It…

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Boy teeth, girl teeth, and the gendering of ungendered things

My three-year-old son had a check-up with his pediatric dentist yesterday. The dentist is a friendly fellow who is good with kids, and we like his practice a lot. Shortly after a dental hygienist cleaned my son’s teeth, the dentist approached…

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