At brunch yesterday, we somehow got on the topic of gender roles (yes, yes, it's one of my favorite topics), which then turned into a discussion of how little girls and boys are addressed.
Our friend Emily, a trained child psychologist, mentioned that adults usually immediately tell little girls they are pretty while they use more qualities to address little boys, ranging from strong to smart. This discussion reminded me of this article by Lisa Bloom which reminds the audience to avoid the immediate reaction to call a girl pretty and focus on other things, like "what' are you reading" or "what do you like to do." Note: I'm bookmarking this for my future niece coming this July.
Since I've already gone pretty rogue with this blog posting bits and pieces of things I've made, I decided to post a poem I wrote this morning (see the photo above). I don't think I've written a poem since I was 10 during a haiku assignment, but oh well, here you go.
In conclusion, don't call her pretty. (well, sometimes it's great to hear... just not all the time)
