There is
a neighborhood kid of about 6 who used to play with me a lot. He was visiting
our home after a few weeks. I had recently colored my hair, hence I showed it
to him and asked him how did my grey hair turn into total black? He did not reply.
After repeating the question and making him recall how my hair had lots of
whites earlier, he finally said that he did not know how it turned back. I
realized that he had not noticed my hair; whether grey or white! It reminded me
of another incident.
My kids
were seeing me after a long gap. My daughter was about 3.5. I went to get a
hair cut and as soon as I returned home, she came, noticed me, and said, “Papa
takle ho gaye”, pointing to my short hair! She had not only noticed that I had
a haircut, but she had also noticed that I had short hair now! Plus, she
thought to share her observation with me. I was really impressed with her
intelligence as well as thoughtfulness. And somewhere, it was also got to do
with gender. My son did not notice my haircut at all!
At any
given age, we can notice in small children that most of the times girls are cleverer
than boys. Their minds work in slightly different manner than boys. We can
notice the differences in the way they choose toys or express themselves. Now,
imagine a society which tries to raise boys and girls in the same manner! Will
that be called feminism? By all means, it will cause harm to both boys and
girls. We need not force our gender-righteousness on our kids. Let girls be ‘girly’
and boys be like ‘boys’ if their natural inclinations are showing in that
manner. Let us not force them to behave and be the “same”.
Thoughts
triggered by the kind of news media outlets expose to me these days.
- Rahul
Tiwary
1 comment:
Nice😁
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