What If We Teach Our Girls To Be Brave Instead Of Perfect?
The girls we see in parks and at school are the women who will be in society tomorrow. But first they are girls and there is no justification for us to take away their childhood just so they can be that perfect woman in the future. Prepared to be mothers, prepared to take care of the house, prepared to navigate the world, prepared to be the best at what they do, prepared to deal with their emotions, prepared to swallow their frustration. If your head hurts after hearing all this, imagine how they feel. Why not teach them to be brave instead of perfect?
Childhood is not a vessel for perfect women
Childhood is not a vessel for perfect women. Of course, there is no parent who does not want their children to have a perfect future. That’s why they work as hard as they can every day, that they are looking for the best teachers and trying to spend more hours with them every day.
One day I read an article that said we demand too much from the children, and this may be true. Experience has taught me that we do not listen to them enough. They have millions of social networks where they can express themselves, but they can not do it at home.
This does not mean that they can make all the decisions, but if we make decisions for them, we should keep in mind what they want now and what they would like to do in the future. If we have this right and this obligation, we can not ignore the responsibility that comes with it. This does not mean that we have to pamper them, but that we should help them discover themselves and find out where they want to go. I’m talking about something that has nothing to do with how strict the parents are.
If we want to teach them something, we should teach them that perfection does not exist. The fact that during their lives they have to face their fears, and just because they have learned to be brave, does not mean that they will not feel afraid, but that they must overcome the fear. Those who do this over and over again will see how their fears become less and less.
Perfect women do not exist, but brave women do exist
Teaching them that perfection does not exist, but that fears multiply as we grow older: at square one, there seems to be much less to lose. Let’s tell her that there are prizes that come with a prize that is so high that it’s not worth winning. It is not worth it to be the most popular if the price you have to pay is bullying, being teased or hearing insults.
Show them that before adopting an opinion, they should analyze what that opinion means, and that they should do so even if it means doing so based on our opinions, and then we must take the time to present them. Do not make them feel that vulnerability makes them weak, because by setting up barriers in front of people we like, we will only distance ourselves from them.
Teach them that they have great power. To break with a partner when he treats one badly, to intervene if someone is in danger, to say no when you get an invitation to something that seems shady. Teach them that freedom does not mean anarchy, and that those who are afraid of them do them no good, no matter how many voices there are in this chorus.
Teach them that if they gather their strength, they will become people who are worthwhile.
