11.15.2010

Gender Roles

As Lea gets older, I have really been thinking about gender roles. Yes, Lea is a girl... she has lots of pink things and almost always wears something pink every day. However, I do try to incorporate "boy things" in her life, too. Such as books about trucks and toy cars. I don't really care if she is a "girlie-girl" or a "tom-boy"... I'll be happy either way... honestly. But, I want her to decide which way she wants to be.

Sometimes I wonder if she has too many "girl toys". The child loves to play with jewelry and prances around the house with her pearls on... but where did she get that from? Perhaps she watches Mommy and Gramma put jewelry on and wants to copy us. Lea recently received a gift of an adorable play purse. It has things in it like play money, a mirror, bracelet, keys and pretend lipstick.... yes, lipstick. To top it off, it sings a song about going out that says, "Look into the mirror, put my lipstick on. It's time to say bye-bye. I won't be gone too long." Um... something about that just doesn't sit right with me. I do not want my beautiful little girl to think she needs to put on make up before she goes somewhere!

Ok, ok... I totally understand that I am being a hypocrite... I mean, I put on make up before I leave the house (and yes, Lea sometimes watches me). But, how am I supposed to raise a little girl to think know that she is beautiful the way she is when her own mommy doesn't always represent that in herself?

So, what do you think? Is this important to you or do you think I am over analyzing the subject (like I usually tend to do!)?

1 comment:

  1. I did not want a princess baby. But, I got one. When Mad was about 8 months old we took her to a friends house for a bbq. They have a 3 year old daughter who thinks she is Cinderella. Mad found her plastic princess dolls and started to fawn over them. It's been all over ever since then. She rocks her baby dolls to sleep with no prompting from me. She takes wash clothes and "cleans" the floor. She folds diaper obsessively. The first things she goes for in my closet are my shoes and she tries to put them on her own feet. At her grandparents house she finds little bowls and spoons and walks around the house "stirring" food. She loves finding my necklaces and headbands in drawers and putting them on her own head. I would have loved a tom boy. Instead I love my girly girl. She has a Tinkerbell that her daddy bought her after the princess incident and she makes her fly all over the house. Who taught her that Tinkerbell flies? Just some random commercial she saw before we even let her watch tv. She absorbs all things girl. I know a lot of these gender rolls she learns from me. All the shoes I try on, the cleaning, the cooking, the hair etc etc. but she loves and embraces it so I try to too.

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