The paper takes its point of departure on work conducted in my dissertation that aims to explore gender constructions in a preschool, two preschool classes and one school class in the first grade. Theoretically, the paper takes its starting-point in the assumption that gender relations vary with the context and may consist of different patterns. Within institutions, such as schools, these local patterns are defined as the gender regime (Connell, 2003). In this paper I argue that what is defined as sub-teachers in previous research include different functions and meanings in relation to gender constructions. The empirical data presented in the paper is based on fieldwork carried out in a preschool class called the Octopus. In the paper I will present the analysis of what is defined as ‘sub-teachers’ and ‘shock absorbers’ in the study. The ‘sub-teacher’ is defined as a child who helps the teacher with traditional teacher tasks. Both girls and boys act as sub-teachers, which differ from previous research. The shock absorber’s main function is to calm chatty boys down, a responsibility exclusively given to the girls or the preschool teachers.