Am I wrong to let my daughter enjoy being girly then?

[pictish]

DD is four - she will be five in Feb. I have two sons as well.

I have never encouraged or acknowledged a marked differentiation between the sexes, regards their interests and clothing. I always steered away from that stuff, letting them make their own minds up.

However, dd has embraced girliness wholeheartedly. She loves pink, and dresses, and My Little Pony and all things sparkly. In the interests of autonomy, and cultivating her own tastes, I don't mind it in the least.

I am starting to feel though, that through reading MN, unless she is playing football in bovver boots, I am doing her a disservice.
My mil (who is lovely really) is rolly eyed about all things pink and girly, and can't resist from making little comments about it. "Oh that's a very fancy dress" (sarcastic).

I have explained that the girliness is her own choice, and just what she happens to like, but I think it goes over her head...mil wants to think it's me pushing this onto her. It isn't.

I sometimes wonder if, in the quest for equality, we sometimes go too far the other way, and heap scorn upon girls who want to be girly? I feel the need to defend my dd's right to love pink and sparkly, as it is now heralded as so deeply uncool.

I thought it was all about offering choices...but nowadays (particularly on MN) it seems as though a girl being girly is a failure.

Anyone?

[Ev1lEdna]

It is a choice. I am a feminist (I would say hardline) who happens to like nail varnish and glittery nail varnish in particular, however I have a number of other interests.

I agree with the other posters, it isn't about curtailing her freedom to choose but questioning the choice retailers and marketing allow for girls (all girls). If she likes that then so be it, she like a lot of girls enjoy the 'girliness.' The problem occurs when another girl doesn't WANT to wear pink or be a princess and prefers a science set to a baby doll and is scorned for it. The problem is when boys WANT the pink lunch box or to play with the dollhouse and is subject to ridicule because pink is a 'girl colour'.

I have no issue with children choosing to like what they want, my issue is when they are forced to like a certain interest/colour/toy becasue society (and most likely marketing people) dictate that they SHOULD.

So let your girl revel in the pink - it doesn't mean she will grow up with a princess complex - like someone else said upthread read her books where girls take the lead, where they can wear pink and still adventure and be boss and discover things. I'm sure she is quite capable of asserting herself in a tutu and glittery shoes.

[pictish]

So let your girl revel in the pink - it doesn't mean she will grow up with a princess complex - like someone else said upthread read her books where girls take the lead, where they can wear pink and still adventure and be boss and discover things. I'm sure she is quite capable of asserting herself in a tutu and glittery shoes.

Yes indeed. That is exactly how I feel about it. I DO buy empowering story books (I make a point of it actually), and am determined that my daughter should be assertive and capable, and confident in making her own choices, unmolested by the expectations of society owing to her gender. She can do all of that in whatever clothes she likes.

[78bunion]

Indeed. I am a feminist too and the important issue is not to curtail choice. Our oldest was just married, beautiful dress etc. She knows that what I value is what is inside and not surprisingly she is very fit, on nearly £100k, sees women's careers as important, does loads of physical things and has a nice rounded happy life.

That did not preclude her looking how she wanted to look on her wedding day, although even there we had important feminist elements - female speaker, no being walked down the aisle, no asking for permission to marry her. I am absolutely delighted at what has emerged from her feminist upbringing.

[Ev1lEdna]

pictish I just bought my friend's daughters a book I read to my boys called 'Who's a Clever Girl Then?' by Rose Impey. It is out of print but you can get it for a penny plus postage (so £2.81) on Amazon. I love it because it is about pirates kidnapping the young girl to do all the sewing, cooking and cleaning on the ship and she refuses and just takes over becoming captain. I read it to my boys because I think the message is a good one for them too! I strongly recommend it.

[pictish]

Sounds good - will deffo check it out!

[Threalamandaclarke]

Ooh. I have just been to the library and picked up "Zog" and "the paper bag princess" can't wait to read them to DCs tonight.

[improveprofy]

You might not have gender stereotyped, but I bet she picks up on the stereotyping at school from other pupils who have been fed gender stereotypes

[Threalamandaclarke]

It's unavoidable IMO.
Gender differences in behaviour are seen in children as young as six months. Arguably a mix of biological/ inate differences and (even subconscious) socialisation.
I personally think it's ok to celebrate these differences. But I also thin it's important to appreciate that we've influenced some of them, that some are contrived and some even need to be challenged in order for our daughters and sons to experience fairness (for want of a better word).

So when primary teachers tell us that all the boys do play with cars and all the girls do play with the dolls, this should be understood within the context of early socialisation(as someone else said here).
Also, it 's important to attribute value to all these different qualities. (competitiveness/ nurturing etc.)

I was intested to read the comment above about the differences in toys, with those that are conventionally boy's toys actually being more developmentally 'useful' and I'm keen to encourage friends and family to help us not pigeonhole my DCs too much with gift choices.

[pictish]

Improveprofy - there is no doubt about that. What would you have me do anout it. other than what I am...which is to educate her in choice?