Like all parents, we fight an uphill battle to have our kids hew to our values rather than some of the values n society at large. We've gotten off relatively easy on the commercialism question, given that toys and brand names are not as available in Cambodia as they are in the US, and that our kids are still young and they don't see TV commercials. But one battle we do fight is on gender roles. The PC attitudes in the US haven't translated into their preschool, and the kids have learned that pink is a color for girls, not boys, and other social constructions. Being a good feminist, I of course tell them that they can wear whatever color they want.
We also try to communicate a respect for cultural differences, and we talk about the way Cambodians do things vs. our style, Buddhism and other religions vs. Christianity, etc. Sometimes all these abstractions get a little confusing.
So imagine my conundrum when it became clear that Ellie was listening! We were going through her clothes, setting aside ones that were too small for her to give away. The more unisex things we saved for Ben, but I have to admit to putting pink corduroy pants and other really girly things aside to send to friends who have two little girls. Ellie, however, internalized everything I told her and happily grabbed an adorable velvet and red taffeta Christmas dress and said, "We can save this for Ben! Cambodians might think that boys can't wear dresses, but Christians think people can wear whatever they want!"
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2 comments:
This is priceless! I hope you're saving all these sayings for that book you're going to publish some day that will make you rich! I have a feeling it will be long time before you run out of material.
Love,
Mom
I like the differentiation: Cambodians vs. Christians. Hmmmm. Religion vs. nationality. Do Americans believe the same things about dresses as Cambodians? And does Ben WANT to wear that cute dress?
Beth
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