While I was researching the piece I wrote the other day on getting girls playing sports, I was overwhelmed by the amount of research and organizations dedicated to promoting sport to girls.  It filled me with delight that so many people saw the value of sport for everyone and that there was a gap when it came to girls and their involvement with organized sport that was actually being addressed.

So I started to do some research on the importance of exposing boys to the arts. Because, as I’ve stated, I’m all about the balance.

Almost nothing.

Very little.

A miniscule amount.

Get the idea?

There is no end of research as to why the arts are important for child development, and rightly so. In young children, the arts can help develop motor skills, language, critical thinking skills and visual learning. Organizations like the Child Development Institute have identified a myriad of reasons why the arts should be a key component to the education of any kid. And when it comes to children involved extracurricular arts activities, a ten year study at Stanford University found that these children were more likely to win academic awards, community service awards, attend school more regularly and were more likely to participate in math and science fairs. And world wide, arts and music education programs are mandatory in countries that rank consistently among the highest for math and science test scores, like Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands.

And yet nothing as to why we should be making an effort to engage our boys in the arts when they aren’t as engaged as girls.

Well this can’t be correct I thought to myself. I can’t be the only one noticing that when it comes to extracurricular activities, anything arts oriented is pretty girl heavy.

As an example, my son (who is, as you may have ascertained, one of the busiest children in New Westminster.) took a spring break performing arts camp.  For the two weeks the camp ran, he was the only boy.

The. Only. Boy.

And its not an anomaly by any stretch of the imagination. When I talk to parents in the playground (the research epicenter of parental information), very few of the boys are involved in any extracurricular activities of an artistic nature.  Some play piano, some like to do art at home, some dance, but after that, very very few are doing it outside of school. When my son was  preschool age, there were many more boys involved in his artistic classes, but once sports entered the picture, these boys dropped of the radar. And I suspect a choice was made for them.

Now before some of you get your hackles up, there are boys doing both most certainly. More than there are girls doing both I’m guessing. As an example, one of my favourite kids in my son’s kindergarten class is a dancer.  He was born to do it. He will be the next Savion Glover,  I’m sure of it. But his parents had to discover it by letting him explore, because this kid also loves sports. He plays hockey. And baseball. And football. And is kind of like a great dane puppy, so physical, sporty activities seem the perfect fit. But above all, he loves to dance. So he dances.

Certainly, when you look at movies, and books, and even fine art,  there are more men represented and producing. Many more. And don’t get me started on what Hollywood does to aging women (and by aging I mean anyone over 25). But that’s a societal issue that I have no energy to discuss at this point in time and really has nothing to do with kids. Buy me a glass of wine or two and perhaps we can enter into that volatile conversation.

What I’m talking about is exposing boys to the arts. Get them dancing and painting and creating and singing and moving. And get them doing it for as long as you can.

The one article I read on Education World  (which was literally the only article I found on boys and the arts as a whole) addressed how bringing the arts back into the classroom can help boys learn. This is key because studies are certainly showing that the current education system as it stands is not designed for the average boy. That our boys are failing and being left behind. But I think we can take that and put it into real world practice as well. Engaging boys in the arts outside the classroom can help them succeed in life and in the long run, be better men.

Lets talk about the idea of the tomboy. I spent my whole childhood labelled a tomboy. Because I was athletic, strong, sassy, tall and loud. Because I had tendencies that were ‘masculine’. So it was natural I suppose that I be drawn to sports. To be fair, I was drawn to the arts too, and I was encouraged to do both. The label tomboy isn’t overly flattering, lets be honest. There are many girls who may in fact be spectacular at sports who aren’t tomboys and have no desire to be called one. Who are ‘girly’ and ‘sensitive’ and ‘delicate’ who may very well love to throw a football, and may in fact be darned good at it if given a chance, but aren’t exposed to it because of their ‘girliness’.

I suspect the same thing is happening with boys.  That the sensitive boys are encouraged to enter the arts, but the ones who could perhaps most benefit from a little creative time sometimes aren’t given the opportunity. Because the thought is they need to run it out or punch it out or hit a home run to get  the ‘boyness’ out of their system.  But who is to say they wouldn’t get the same benefit by dancing it out? Or acting it out? Or painting it out? I surmise it would help, and be an incredible balance. Who knows what magical things would be created?!

One of my favourite advocates for boys is local educator Barry MacDonald, who posted a great article on why boys should sing, which uses the metaphor of choral singing as a sport to get boys engaged in it. I don’t know if we need to necessarily equate an art with a sport to get boys involved, but I think the point is fair.

And lets be honest. Boys are noticing the same thing the girls are noticing when they go out for sports.  That they may be the only one.  Being an outlier isn’t fun when you are five.  Or six.  Or even forty two. There is a reason that boys only dance classes are created. Because you may be mocked for not being manly enough if you dance (or paint, or take pictures, or cook, or play tuba etc).

Remember Billy Elliot ?

It takes a pretty confident kid to be able to dive into something ‘different’ and forget what other people say, no matter how much we teach them it doesn’t matter. That kid probably already has that passion and desire to do something.  What about the kids that don’t know?

And its the same with the other fine arts. Music classes have more girls than boys. Acting classes. Art classes. Heavily skewed to girls. The list goes on.

Activities shouldn’t have a gender.  Arts shouldn’t be girly anymore than sports should be manly.

I think everyone is better when they have a little balance.  A little bit of art and a little bit of sport.  They do different things for our brains, our bodies and our souls.  And, to be serious for a moment, I think we should all be doing what we can to make sure our children are a little bit better.  Because the world we are leaving them is in a whole lot of trouble…we need to do what we can to make sure this next generation can leave it better than they found it.