How would a young girl feel if she was cooking and her brother playing? How would a young boy feel if his sister was staying indoors and he had to go out and work? These scenarios aren’t unconventional. The question here is: why are some tasks divided as per gender?
Gender bias is prominent in our society and has never been questioned. However, many have accepted gender bias and never interrogated its effects. It has been imbibed deeply in our culture. Certain errands are only for men, and others for women. Home is the first school for any child, and parents are the first teachers.
How to prepare your child for gender bias?
- Being a role model
If you are a father and not helping around at home, it sets the tone that, men are shouldn’t do house chores. Correspondingly, children believe what they see. One way of improving this is let kids be part of the work. For instance, boys can also be helping in the kitchen and girls can help out their father in machine-driven wok. This reduces stereotypical gender bias.
- Ask them to express their thoughts.
Boys crying is a sign of weakness. Especially, there are many derogatory statements too, like “Don’t cry like a girl,” “Be strong” etc. Parents need to be conscious of this language.
Suppressing emotions bursts a bubble over time. Leads to depression which could stay carried all their lives. Expression of their sorrows in not accepted for boys. This sorrow grows over them and affects their personal and professional relationships.
Instead of this gender bias, asking kids to openly communicate their emotions builds a safe environment for them. You can ask them questions and share opinions that make the child feel comfortable and safe. Open discussions creates comforting environment. Reciprocating children makes them feel special. Undoubtedly, they grow to be exceptional individuals.
- Set the same rules and boundaries.
Particularly normalize that girls play sports and boys cook. All households need positive discipline. When you don’t treat kids with the same rules, it agitates them. Fabricated minds lead to heaps of unfairness. This can cause behavioral issues. Teach children to be righteous and believe in gender equality. This way, they can maintain a healthy relationship with the opposite gender.
- Teach them gender equality.
Bridging girls to leadership opportunities and asking normalizing fears for boys should be a commonality. Subsequently, in small villages, because of financial adversity and controlling parents, girls skip school so that their brothers can attend.
Girls and boys should have same opportunities. Additionally, with the right exposure, kids can make informed decisions when the situation arises. Education imparts knowledge of exposure to a child, which encourages gender equality.
- Respect the differences.
Toxic parenting is very dangerous. Gender bias starts at home, and it effects the society. For instance, boys frequently tease girls about the make-up they wear, while girls’ mock boys about how they dress. Phrases like “Don’t be such a girl” or “Be a man!” are racist. There is no definition of what it means to be a girl or what it means to be a man in society. When such hallucinatory bars are set in a society, respecting the differences goes haywire.
In conclusion, questioning based on choices people make has to be highly discouraged. Similarly, respecting their differences should be a norm. If everyone was the same, then just like a sheep herd, there would be no growth in the mindset. Undeniably conscious parenting makes future generations accepting of the differences. Nevertheless, parenting is being able to be a friend first.
