Who will run the world?
By Debby Carroll
Recently I read an article about raising feminist boys. It seems we now raise girls to believe they can be and do anything but we may be dropping the ball on doing the same with our boys. I read the article, not because I am currently raising anyone, but rather because my daughter and son-in-law are raising my grandsons and I thought I might learn some things to share.
And then it hit me. I am raising someone– two “someones,” in fact. I am partially raising those same two wonderful little boys. Like many lucky grandparents, we babysit for our grandsons regularly. We provide day care for them, usually two days each week while their parents work. As such, and much can be said for many grands who see their grandchildren regularly, we certainly do have a hand in raising the kids.
So, it behooves us to look at how we are raising them. Are we teaching them to be compassionate and caring? Are we helping them to see the world as a place made up of diverse people who are all deserving of respect? Are they learning some of life’s most important lessons from us? As grandparents, we bring a lifetime of wisdom with us when we interact with our adorable little ones. We should ask ourselves if we are using that knowledge to pass along a legacy of integrity.
“The definition of integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” Isn’t that something grandparents should hold up as the gold standard of what we want our grandkids to be?”
Raising feminists, people who believe men and women should have equal rights in all things, should be part of that goal. Integrity should include the way we view people who are different from us, right?
So, I told my daughter about the article and noted that recently, four-year-old Avery said, “Grammy, only boys play soccer. Girls don’t play.” I did correct him but thought my daughter should know what he said.
She replied, “But he does sing Beyoncé’s “Who runs the world? Girls,” in bed.
So, maybe our legacy is safe.
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Debby Carroll is Avery’s Grammy and the Executive Editor and Director of Strategic Development for GRAND. Upon discovering how outdated the images of grandparents were in the children’s books she read to Avery, she decided to write a new one on behalf of fabulous, real grandparents
Grands: From A to Z, Everything a Grandparent Can Be