Читать книгу Raising Girls: Why girls are different – and how to help them grow up happy and confident - Gisela Preuschoff - Страница 12

Sometimes we forget that everything depends on self-awareness. What kind of person am I? How do I behave? What kind of example am I setting for my child? (To help you answer these questions, refer back to the ‘Self-awareness questions for parents’ in the Introduction.) The better you know yourself and understand your own anxieties, feelings and desires, the less likely you are to force your children into a mould or transfer your anxieties to them. Which means that the most difficult part about raising children – whether they are boys or girls – is the work you have to do on yourself. When you have a daughter, you must ask yourself what it means to you personally to be part of a female child’s upbringing, and what femininity means to you. You need to be honest here. Little children see through insincerity quickly. What does the subject of girls mean to you? Barbie dolls, curls, horses, high heels, pink jumpers and little cotton dresses? Or wise women, witches, grandmothers, female presidents, astronauts and taxi drivers? Femininity has many facets these days. What do you understand by it?