We are all guilty of either saying or thinking it; 'Blue is for boys and pink is for girls.' Or maybe it's 'I don't want my daughter playing with boys because boys are rowdy'. These are stereotypes and as parents and guardians through using speech like this, we determine who the child will be instead of letting them be.
I have been in this business for many years and I have taught both boys and girls and what I can tell you from my experience is that children just want to have fun and play. They do not care about your preconceived notion of gender and gender roles. They do not know these things until we teach them. And this type of projection goes above and beyond gender norms.
Projecting on children stops them from reaching their own full potential. And, it puts so much pressure on them to live up to your expectations. As parents and guardians, more often than now we expect our kids to have the same interests and talents as we do and other times, we project our own faults and imperfections instead of facing them ourselves. It's true that your children will inherit some of your personality traits, but kids are also very unique, separate individuals with their own personalities. The earlier we recognize and understand this, the easier it will be to accept our children for who they really are. And the easier it will be for our kids to fully embrace themselves as they are, building strong self-esteem!
And the fault does not lie in parents and guardians alone, even as teachers we are guilty of projection. Being good caregivers means letting children discover themselves fully with no judgment. Let's let kids be kids again!
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