Talk to kids about gender issues.
How do we sensitise children to gender inclusivity and gender rights? The first step for parents is to educate themselves, says parent and professor of psychology Tanu Shree Singh in an episode of the podcast Difficult Conversations with Your Kids.
“It’s a spectrum,” reminds Tanu Shree. “We very happily say ‘he’ or ‘she’ and our conversation is done,” she says.
Secondly, we need to move beyond stereotypical gender roles and make sure they are in no way enforced upon kids. “Right from the beginning, from the choice of the colours of the clothes to the toys, everything should be based more on interest than gender,” she explains.
The key is to lead by example, Tanu Shree emphasises. “I, being a woman, take on certain roles which I feel are a mother’s job or a woman’s job, then I am anyway giving them or handing them a stereotype, no?” she says.
“Read. Open up to ideas. We have to widen our vocabulary (about gender)…We need to consciously break stereotypes,” asserts Tanu Shree.
Listen to the entire podcast here:
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Talk to kids about gender issues.
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