Kids Are People, Too

One of the most important things parents can provide for their children is opportunity. Opportunity for the basics--healthy food, clean water, fresh air--but also the chance to grow, experience, and experiment within safe boundaries and without unnecessary limits. All parents feel the desire to give their children the broadest horizons possible, but what that looks like and how it is achieved differs. For some parents it is Baby Einstein videos and private schools. For some, it is competitive teams and tough coaches. For me, especially as the mother of three daughters, an indispensable facet of “giving my kids everything” is doing my best to make my children aware of strategies for overcoming gender bias. Which is an uphill task at times since some people don’t even believe that gender discrimination still exists, if it ever did. But attending “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” for a total of ten years with some combination of daughters, I got to experience eye-opening statements and behavior that indicate there’s still work to be done in the struggle for equality. We treat our boys and girls differently, we just do. And we have to consciously work at changing that--gets our boys in the kitchen, get our girls under the hood, get everybody changing diapers and taking out trash. In Herman Parish’s Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia, our favorite maid isn’t very good behind the wheel. Maybe if she sat on her dad’s lap as a little girl and learned the basics, things would be different.

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Driving-Amelia-Bedelia-Camelot/dp/038072510X

http://www.authorsillustrators.com/parish/parish.htm