Children learn stereotypes in surprisingly ordinary ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody necessarily sits a little boy down and tells him that sport is for boys. Nobody formally informs a girl that engineering isn’t really her thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is usually much subtler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Wouldn’t your brother like the cricket bat?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Why don’t we get her a craft set?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The boys can carry these chairs.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Can one of the girls help me with the little children?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mostly innocent. Often well-intentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But children are excellent observers, and gradually they begin assembling these little clues into rules about the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boys do this. Girls do that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And that can become a problem when the rule stops a child from even trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the simplest ways to challenge gender stereotypes in children is to offer opportunities before making assumptions about interests or abilities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A girl doesn’t need to be pushed towards sport because she’s a girl. Nor does a boy need to be encouraged to cook merely to prove a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer both the opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let them try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then allow ability, enthusiasm and plain old personal preference to take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That distinction is at the heart of The Racquet Racket<\/a><\/strong>, the first story in Biplobworld’s Girls <\/a>= Boys, Each Unique<\/a><\/strong> series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that’s perfectly alright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gender parity does not require us to pretend biological differences don’t exist. Nor does it require us to pretend every child has identical abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spend ten minutes with a group of children and that idea disappears fairly quickly anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One will run faster. Another will have better coordination. One can concentrate for astonishing lengths of time while another appears to have been fitted with an internal motor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children are different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is whether gender alone should be enough to decide what opportunity a child gets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Very often, it shouldn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And sport gives us a particularly useful example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Racquet Racket<\/a><\/strong>, Avantika and her friends are preparing for their school’s pickleball trials. Two boys, Deepak and Rajul, dismiss the possibility that Avantika could be as good as them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their reasoning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is a girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They argue that they are stronger and therefore she could never be better than them at any<\/em> sport. Biplob points out the rather obvious hole in this argument: pickleball isn’t a weightlifting or wrestling competition. It requires several different skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is where an entertaining children’s story raises a surprisingly grown-up question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are we judging the skills actually required\u2014or simply relying on an assumption?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A sport might require speed, coordination, accuracy, endurance, strategy, anticipation, balance or teamwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strength can matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But so can an awful lot of other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same applies far beyond sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a wonderfully useful habit to encourage in children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suppose something heavy needs moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strength matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suppose a team needs someone who can solve a complicated puzzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Problem-solving matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suppose somebody needs to comfort a frightened younger child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Empathy and patience matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we identify the actual ability required<\/strong>, gender often becomes remarkably irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is precisely what happens in The Racquet Racket<\/a><\/em>. Avantika’s friends recognise that she plays as well as the others. What matters isn’t whether she is a girl. What matters is whether she can play pickleball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounds obvious when written down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, stereotypes have an annoying habit of making obvious things less obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is another distinction worth teaching children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone deserves a fair chance. That doesn’t mean everyone will be equally good at everything.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some children will make the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Others won’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone will win the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone else will finish last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gender equality doesn’t require us to engineer identical outcomes or protect children from discovering that somebody else is better at something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It means the opportunity to participate shouldn’t disappear because we made a judgement before the child even began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That makes the message much more useful than simply saying, \u201cGirls can do anything boys can do.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps a particular girl can’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps a particular boy can’t either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let ability answer the question\u2014not gender.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents don’t need to turn every conversation into a seminar on gender equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, please don’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we can pay attention to the casual assumptions we make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would we ask our daughter to help assemble the new bookshelf?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would we invite our son into the kitchen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do we automatically describe a physically adventurous girl as a \u201ctomboy\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do we assume the boy will enjoy the football class and the girl the dance class before either has expressed an opinion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n These tiny moments matter because childhood is largely a process of trying things and discovering yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A child who repeatedly receives the message \u201cthat’s not really for you\u201d<\/em> may eventually stop asking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is another lovely moment in The Racquet Racket<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the disagreement, Biplob encourages Riya\u2014who has never played pickleball\u2014to join the group. She plays squash, another racquet sport, so her friends realise some of those skills may transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They offer to teach her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biplob’s advice is simple: she has the opportunity; now she needs to work hard and make the most of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That is a far more useful version of equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opportunity isn’t the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the starting line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children still need to practise, learn, fail, improve and occasionally discover that they are absolutely dreadful at something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s part of growing up too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gender stereotypes can become a rather heavy subject when adults approach children with explanations, definitions and lectures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stories give us another route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Biplobworld’s Girls = Boys, Each Unique<\/a><\/strong> series, we wanted the adventure to come first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Racquet Racket<\/em>, children encounter a pickleball trial, friendships, rivalry, teasing and a talking bumblebee who initially thinks pickleball might involve making pickles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stereotype appears naturally within that story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So does the challenge to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A child can therefore reach the important conclusion without someone standing over the book explaining <\/a>what she is supposed to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After reading, parents can simply ask:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Do you think Deepak was right?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “How could he know Avantika wasn’t good enough before playing against her?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Have you ever thought something was only for boys or only for girls?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then see where the conversation goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might learn something too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As parents, we can’t remove every stereotype our children will encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nor do we need to pretend boys and girls are identical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we can do is prevent assumptions from becoming unnecessary fences around childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the science kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the paints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the cooking spoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the doll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offer the toolbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then watch what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some children will surprise us. Some won’t. Some will try something once and never touch it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the objective was never to decide the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was to give them the chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the idea behind The Racquet Racket<\/a><\/strong>, the first story in Biplobworld’s Girls = Boys, Each Unique<\/a><\/strong> series: don’t decide what a child can do simply by looking at whether that child is a girl or boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQuick Answer: How Can Parents Challenge Gender Stereotypes?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
But Aren’t Boys and Girls Different?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When \u201cBoys Are Stronger\u201d Becomes the Entire Argument<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ask \u201cWhat Does This Need?\u201d Rather Than \u201cWho Usually Does This?\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Equal Opportunity Doesn’t Guarantee Equal Results<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Watch the Language We Use at Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Important Thing Is the Opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let Stories Start the Conversation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Give Them the Racquet<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n