Guest Blog: “Girls today are growing up in a world full of contradictions and conundrums”

Here is a super guest post from my good friend back in England, Jessica Smith, about the challenges that today’s girls face. To read more from Jessica check out www.mumintheknow.blogspot.com

THANKS JESS!

“Girls today are growing up in a world full of contradictions and conundrums. Expectations of our girls are high. As parents we want them to study hard, look good, be sporty and popular, and yet levels of stress in girls are at an all-time high, manifesting themselves in eating disorders and depression.

Media and advertising images of girls portray unrealistic images of beautiful fashionistas with all the latest accessories, spending their time on their phones, grooming dogs or horses or putting on makeup. This teaches our girls that they are supposed to be beautiful and materialistic, be caring and a good homemaker.

The traditional image of girls as “good girls” who sit quietly and do colouring, who put others’ needs first, who are modest, who help around the house and who are caring and loving is still ingrained in parents attitudes – and yet parents of today also expect their girls to be smart and intelligent, sporty and creative, and to grow up to have a challenging career. Not only is this a pretty tall order for today’s girl, but also many of the skills required are contradictory in some way. For example, to be a “good girl” you need to learn to put others first, to respect authority and to be modest. To have a successful career as a business woman you may at times need to put yourself first, to challenge authority or stand up for what you believe is right, and to clearly market yourself as the best person for the job. Where as a girl are you supposed to learn these skills, when the opposite appears to be valued by your parents, the media and your friends?

Being a parent today can be tough. Much has changed since we were children, and yet the world is still far from an equal place. We want to teach our children that they can be anything they want to be, and yet we are often still governed by the values instilled in us since our own childhood and reinforced daily by the media. We may think we treat boys and girls equally, but in reality we are still sub-consciously guided by the traditional stereotypes – from the colours we pick, to the tone of voice we use, to the interests we encourage in our children.

One such conundrum that my friend Sasha noticed recently is that our girls are supposed to look pretty and yet be sporty. They are supposed to look attractive and fashionable, and yet not be too sexy. They want to wear dresses and skirts, and yet join in at the playground, at gymnastics and on the soccer pitch. Thankfully, Sasha has a solution to this.  Knickerbocker glory’s  “underouts” can be worn under skirts or dresses – don’t require anything underneath, and yet are ok to be seen. In fact, handstands can be positively encouraged in order to show off the garments to best effect!

So thank you Sasha for solving one of today’s “girl conundrums”. As for the rest of them, here are a few links that interested parents might find helpful…

http://www.empowering-girls.com/

http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

http://www.rachelsimmons.com/ and http://www.girlsleadershipinstitute.org/