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Kids and Gender Norms
Bucking the norms isn’t for the faint of heart
We spent the last week in the hospital, and with it being a children’s hospital they are in tune with what the kids are in to these days. However, when your child doesn’t conform to gender norms, the experience can be interesting.
Child life played a large part in my daughters care. They would come in multiple times a day and offer movies, coloring, games and activities. My daughter is 8. So they always came armed with Disney princesses, barbies, and all things girly.
Very quickly they all learned. My daughter is okay with some princesses, likes barbie, but only because she can do anything (like go to space) and isn’t a pink girl. She is very vocal about her likes and dislikes, so they would come in with this and be met with “I am NOT a girly girl person, princesses are mostly lame, and colors don’t have genders.”
This was met with interest by the staff…well what DOES she like then? She would always answer, “Marvel, Star Wars, Space, Science, and my favorite color is green.” Then she would excitedly tell them about her pets (a cat and a gecko) and how next she wanted a snake. They would give her some looks, then run off to find her something she was interested in.
They had fun gowns for the kids, and brought her mermaids and princesses. She declined and went…
