Parent questionnaires 2 and 3 for gender-conscious cooperation
with parents
The following questionnaires enable you to find out more about whether and how
your children deal with or question the issue of gender at home and what your
children are occupied with outside the early childhood educational centres.
Questioning the parents can also supply you with additional information regarding the
way in which the children in your group explore the educational issue of what it is to
be a girl or boy.
Furthermore, the questionnaires give you the opportunity to discuss gender issues
and questions with the parents.
You could ask the mother and father to complete the questionnaire in the early
childhood educational centre. Providing a cup of coffee or tea and a comfortable seat
will increase the parents’ motivation to fill out the questionnaire.
It is important to remember that many parents are not usually used to formulating
short concise answers. Some parents might appreciate a few helpful tips on how to
formulate their answers.
Questionnaires 2 and 3 for gender-conscious cooperation with parents are an
additional tool of the Gender Loops Toolbox for gender-conscious and equitable early
childhood centres. The Toolbox can be downloaded on www.genderloops.eu
Parent questionnaire on: “Being a girl or being a boy – What do children think
about this?”
Dear parents,
Recently we have noticed that “being a girl or boy” has increasingly become an issue and a
topic of discussion for the children in our groups at the early childhood educational centre.
What can girls or boys do better or not so well? What are they allowed or not allowed to do?
are just some of the questions the children are currently raising.
As we would like to find out more about role models the girls and boys have, we would like to
ask you about the gender role models of your son or daughter.
We have designed a questionnaire for this purpose and kindly ask you to complete it over the
next few days.
1. Is the topic of “being a girl or being a boy” an issue for your daughter or son at home? For
instance, does he/she say that girls or boys are not allowed to or cannot play certain games
or activities? Or does your daughter or son refuse to wear a certain item of clothing because
he/she thinks it is for a girl or boy?
No
Yes, (please expand)
(Give two or three examples or quotes)
2. When your daughter or son makes a comment on the topic of “being a girl or being a boy”,
how do you usually react?
Give two or three examples of a “typical” reaction from you (e.g. agree, disagree, no
reaction)?
3. Does your child ask questions about the topic of “being a girl or being a boy”? Does your
child ask you questions, such as: Are these trousers for a girl? Do boys play with dolls too?
No
Yes, my daughter/my son asks the following questions:
How do you answer the above questions from your daughter/son?
4. Has your child strongly identified with a particular picture book, cartoon or comic figure
recently?
No
Yes, (please expand)
5. How old is your child/are your children?
son
son
daughter
daughter
Parent questionnaire on “Gender-typical and gender-untypical games and
activities”
Dear parents,
In our facility, we are currently dealing with the question of whether girls and boys might
prefer different games or activities or dare not play certain games because they think that
some games are only for girls or boys.
We would really appreciate your assessment of what kind of games your child likes playing
or does not like playing.
We have designed a questionnaire for this purpose and kindly ask you to complete it over the
next few days.
1. Does your child talk about what he/she likes doing best in the early childhood
educational centre?
No
Yes, according to our daughter/our son, he/she likes doing the following things best of all:
2. Which games or activities does your child currently like playing most of all?
3. Are there any toys that your child would especially like to have that you do not want to give
him/her?
No
Yes, (please expand)
4. How old is your child/are your children?
son
son
daughter
daughter