Pretty much the same effect as that third grade teacher is trying to achieve.
But....if one must provide humanization to the godhead...why NOT "she"?
Define? The third grade teacher is trying to give the students a way to visualize the atom. She is not trying to define it as being Styrofoam. And while some third graders might have the mistaken idea that atoms are little solid balls, it is necessary to give them some way to conceptualize of them, as what they actually are is not completely understood nor intuitively easy to visualize.
Kind of like the God described in the bible. Like sub atomic physics, spiritual realities are harder to visualize, so quite reasonably analogies are used.
The bible calls God our Father as an illustration of the relationship that God has to man, and the relationship a father has with a child. This is used for illustration, and is certainly not intended to imply God fathers children in the same way that a person does. Other illustrations in the bible have God as a groom and the church as his bride. This does not mean that Christian men consider themselves women.
But....if one must provide humanization to the godhead...why NOT "she"?
The book of Genesis says very plainly that both men and women were both created in the image of God. The Christian bible makes a distinction between Jesus who was begotten of God and the rest of us who were created in His image. Also it is said plainly in the bible that God is spirit. Thus the idea that the maleness of God is for any other purpose than an illustration of relationship is just silly.
Since in most cultures the father/husband has the most authority in a family, the analogy fits best for the male. So what a surprise that being a "father" and being a "husband" are used, and not being a "mother" or being a "wife".