Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Maybe she's ready for Butler

After reading so much gender theory, watching my daughter develop a concept of gender fascinates me (and often entertains me).

Sunday morning I put her hair up with a bow, and she looked in the mirror and said, "Now I'm a girl." She messed it up and I had to take it out and start over. When I took it out, she said, "I'm not a girl anymore."

I didn't say anything--sometimes I think it's more important to let her work those things out for herself.

5 comments:

Literacy-chic said...

My little one is obsessed with purses--at 15 months! And not just with the full, mommy-type purses, though it started with the ability to unzip and discover the papery delights inside. She carries around empty ones! I must say that gender came to mind--the big brother didn't do that!!

Anonymous said...

oh, i totally had to buy kizzy yet another purse yesterday. she is the original purse fiend. whenever she gets a new one, she has to transfer all her stuff. it's nuts. i don't understand it.

M said...

My 5-year-old nephew loves purses! He carries around his mom's old one, which totally freaks out my brother-in-law. My nephew fills the purse with his cars, crayons, army men, and trains, so it seems to be gendered in both ways for him. He refused a backpack when offered one, saying the purse was more "handy."

Anonymous said...

I don't think anyone could ever be ready for Butler... ;)

Lilian said...

Hmmm, very interesting. This week my son saw me putting on some chapstick and said "No mama, that's just for boys, you're a girl, you have to use lipstick!" He always asks to put lipstick on and I generally reply that it's just for girls. He knows he can use chapstick and enjoys it, so he just associated each "kind of lipstick" with a gender!