This study attempted to determine: (1) whether 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children have sex typed story preferences; and (2) whether an attempt on the part of parents to prevent sex stereotyping would affect sex typed preferences. A review of previous research discusses measures used to determine sex linked responses and the implications of results obtained. Subjects in this study were children attending a half-day preschool in Tallahassee, Florida. Parents of the children were generally well educated and had expressed an awareness for preventing sex discrimination in the rearing of their child. In Study A, 66 children were given the choice of hearing a story about a dinosaur (male linked subject matter), a princess (female linked subject matter), or a family (neutral). In Study B, with 50 children, the choice was between a story about a dump truck (male), a baby doll (female), or a family (neutral). It was hypothesized that the children would show sex typed preferences, that sex typed preferences would be greater for boys, and that there would be an increase in sex linked choice with age. Results for Study A supported the hypotheses, indicating that preschoolers did evidence a sex identity in choosing a type of story to hear, with boys less likely to choose the cross sex choice than girls. There was also a slight increase of sex linked choice with age. Results of Study B also indicated sex linked preferences with those preferences greater for boys, but no increase of sex linked choice with age. It was concluded from the data that children (especially boys) have already established a fairly clear sex role identity by age 2. The implications these findings have for educating and rearing children without sex stereotyping are discussed. (SB)