When a girl child is raised in a home the nurtures and values creativity,
discovery, learning and mistakes, she has the self-confidence to tackle the
world rather she chooses engineering or art. My youngest child is now 20
and
I can honestly say that if I had expected excellence in thinking skill to
be
the responsibility of their public school education I would have been
gravely
disappointed. Don't sell parental influence and participation short and
don't shut them out of the educational loop. Working together, each child
can become a well educated independent thinker.
This last child (B) and computer camp friend put together a computer at a
school board meeting when she was in 6th grade (~1993). The superintendent
aid, wow and noted the timely for completion of the task and added,
"......and they are girls." Without loosing a beat, B. replied "What's
that
got to do with it?" This is the mind set that all children need to have
for
success. (Is was also one of my proudest parental moments!)
We each have our own stories of how gender culture has impacted our lives.
My 81 year old Dad regrets that he did not take more time with his children
when they were growing up instead of working away from home a lot. I wish
I
had not hit so many barracks and constant attitude as a (female) general
contractor.
I am an ardent believer in educating parents to raise successful children.
When you do this, Barbies will not be the toy of choice for a three year
old
girl.
Respectfully,
J.Sheeran
<Sheeran176@aol.com>
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