The "why" and its importance for supporting our kids
I am teaching my daughter to be the prince and the princess. I grew up watching the princess waiting around for a prince to save her. If only her prince charming would come all would be right in the world. The truth is life is not a fairytale and these messages still exist and are teaching our children the wrong message. Girls think they need someone else to complete them and boys growing up thinking women are not smart or capable. And when a girl breaks with tradition, she is seen as bossy, pushy, and yes, a b*tch. When boys break with tradition they are seen as wimpy, girlie, and weak.
Things are ssssslllllllooowwwlllyyy starting to change, but one movie, one message can impact the way our kids think. I see it daily when my daughter comes home from school. From what she wants to wear, to a hairstyle, to a new saying she has picked up from another classmate. She is being influenced, good and bad, in small ways every day.
Geena Davis’s documentary, This Changes Everything, is an amazing examination into the message Hollywood is pushing to our children. It’s amazing the power of the screen and the lessons it has been for years teaching our young people. So you might be thinking, I don’t let my kids watch TV. You don’t, but others do and they go to school and share on the playground.
So what can you do?
Have conversations with your children. When you see a change in the way they talk or something they have an overnight interest in, ask why? Not in an accusing way, but to understand and be on the same page. You can’t support them if you don’t know their WHY.
The reason we don’t have answers at Bright Littles is because, as parents, we are not the ones that need to be answering. We want our kids to respond, so we can learn and understand where they are, what they know, what they don’t know. Let them guide the conversation and share who they are, what they are feeling, how they see the world.
Our kids are growing up in a VERY different world and exposed to so much more at an early age. Our job as parents is not to have all the answers, but to be brave enough to ask the hard questions.
Things are ssssslllllllooowwwlllyyy starting to change, but one movie, one message can impact the way our kids think. I see it daily when my daughter comes home from school. From what she wants to wear, to a hairstyle, to a new saying she has picked up from another classmate. She is being influenced, good and bad, in small ways every day.
Geena Davis’s documentary, This Changes Everything, is an amazing examination into the message Hollywood is pushing to our children. It’s amazing the power of the screen and the lessons it has been for years teaching our young people. So you might be thinking, I don’t let my kids watch TV. You don’t, but others do and they go to school and share on the playground.
Have conversations with your children. When you see a change in the way they talk or something they have an overnight interest in, ask why? Not in an accusing way, but to understand and be on the same page. You can’t support them if you don’t know their WHY.
The reason we don’t have answers at Bright Littles is because, as parents, we are not the ones that need to be answering. We want our kids to respond, so we can learn and understand where they are, what they know, what they don’t know. Let them guide the conversation and share who they are, what they are feeling, how they see the world.
Our kids are growing up in a VERY different world and exposed to so much more at an early age. Our job as parents is not to have all the answers, but to be brave enough to ask the hard questions.