BackBring out the geek in your girl
Forget pink and pretty, read and explore with your daughter to develop her scientific temperament
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In 1981 Lego released an advertisement featuring a young girl wearing jeans, T-shirt and sneakers and smiling proudly at her Lego creation. There is no princess costume, no pink blocks, no tiaras and sparkles. Just a little girl having fun with Lego.
What happened in the last three decades? Why did girls get pushed into the pink ghettos of ponies and purses and magic wands and hair dryers? How did toy aisles get gender stereotyped?
We could argue endlessly over nature versus nurture and how genders play differently but if you are trying to raise a girl child interested in science and engineering in an environment that is constantly telling her how little girls should play, it’s an uphill task. I am no expert in parenting or raising girls. But I am a technology enthusiast for life; I have been writing on gadgets and technology for over a decade, am married to a fellow geek and raising two boys to be curious about their world, to tinker with things and to follow their interests passionately.
I know how it is to grow up being passionate about science fiction and Star Wars, building complex Lego structures, and tinkering with broken clocks in a household that was anything but nerdy. So if you as a parent do not want the environment to colour your daughter’s brain pink, here are a few things to keep in mind.
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