It’s pretty normal for preschoolers to get stuck in gender stereotypes. Nora gets the giggles when she sees a man wearing pink and a few weeks ago, she was giving me some crap about women not being able to be farmers. Just farmers’ wives.
So we work on it; addressing gender bias each time it comes up in conversation or books. Watching Mary Poppins, I had to explain what a “suffragette” is. Try breaking that down for a modern four-year-old.
Whew.
During our morning drive yesterday, we saw a construction worker standing in the street.
“Construction guys are important, right mommy?” (Ben’s in construction, so we’re trying to train her not to resent the folks who maintain our infrastructure.)
“Yes. Very important. And construction women, too. Women can be construction workers. Did you know that?”
“Right!” she says, and breaks into song, “We’re clearly soldiers in petticoats!”
Oh, yeah. The message is getting through…