The Way We Speak To Kids Shapes Their Ideas About Gender

Most parents understand that it's unhelpful to tell a small boy not to cry. Or tell a little girl she's pretty. But what about other, more subtle, differences in the ways we speak to our boys and girls? Annabelle Lukin is an Associate Professor in Linguistics at Macquarie University. She says language is both powerful and complex, and it might surprise you how much the words you speak can shape a child's ideas about what it means to be a boy or a girl.You can find more of Annabelle's work at The Conversation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.