Family and Faith Magazine January 2015 | Page 23

FAMILY “Two little girls catching up at Family Night Out 2” ‘FEEL THE FEAR But Do It Anyway’- Raising Girls R EMEMBER THOSE STEREOTYPICAL IDEOLOGIES THAT DICTATED THAT GIRLS HAVE IT TRICKIER boys would get to play outside and girls had to stay inside and do housework? The fact of the matter is that in today’s world girls have it… well trickier. Girls have to invest in getting an education and building a career while still developing the soft skills needed to serve in a home. As a young married career-oriented woman, she is expected to be the giver in the relationship and the manager of the home, while the husband is only really expected to provide and ‘help out’ at home when possible. In a recent blog I wrote about the importance of securing a good housekeeper and having a husband who shares equitably in household duties. That can make things much easier. But how exactly do we raise girls bearing these dynamics in mind? How do we prepare them to live a full life? Not so anymore these days, well almost. In today’s world, girls now get ‘to play outside’ but they also sometimes still have to master dishwashing. Of course some girls – usually daughters of corporate mothers – don’t end up doing either. Instead the housekeeper does all the chores leaving them to play on tablets, watch TV and maybe participate in school-based extra-curricular activities. A sad state of affairs, but I digress. Family and Faith Magazine | www.familyandfaithmagazine.com | Monday, January 5, 2015 23