Girls Matter

On Monday, while I was still in DC after the Womens March, my sister Leslie helped Margaret Jo, our first grade daughter with her homework. My husband JJ saw it Tuesday when he checked her homework folder. We were both simultaneously in tears and filled with rage.

We have discussed with the girls, after Clara Lou, our Kindergartener came home excited about having read "Duck for President" and had a mock election, about how we join efforts to provide roads and schools like theirs. How elections elect a President to be the boss, legislators to make the rules, and judges are elected or nominated to decide when people disagree.

There were times when I just couldn't turn the news off fast enough, like when they heard DJT call people names, including "Miss Piggy." Margaret  Jo, my 7 year old said, "that's mean."

The election results came in, we read "The Paperbag Princess" by Munsch, and "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson. We used them to explain that what kids see, their opinions matter; that they can help themselves.

I have taken to reading, not watching the news. And for this to have permeated into Margaret Jo's reality feels devastating.

I want our girls to feel empowered and had HRC won the electoral college, I can't help but wonder, would Margaret Jo have written something else for her homework.
BBC Article on girls losing faith in their talents by age 6
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