Jenn Neilson 06/04/14 08:11 AM ET
"I like your hat, that colour looks great on you," I catch myself saying to my niece when I see her rosy two-year-old cheeks on the iPad, as she runs in from playing outside to say hello. I could have said "Did you see any interesting bugs out there?", "What did you plant today?", or "What's your favourite book right now?" instead, but I didn't, and neither will 99 per cent of the people that start a conversation with my niece or my daughter over the next eight to 10 years. And that's a problem.
It's a problem because the first thing almost every adult says to a little girl is something about her clothes or her hair. Even if it's a compliment, little girls quickly get the idea that their looks are what matters, and that looking good and dressing well is what they should aspire to. It's what adults (and society at large) expect them to be interested in, to be good at, and to want to talk about. And that's bad news for the future of our girls. If we want the next generation to grow up striving to be kind, capable and confident rather than popular and sexy, we need to be mindful of the messages we're sending to kids.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jenn-neilson/kids-gender-stereotypes_b_5438714.html
