Don’t Teach Girls That Being Nice Is More Important Than Having A Voice

 I have had this post in my drafts for almost a month and since has continued to be on my mind, I decided to go ahead and publish it.I had shared a meme on my Insta-Stories which stated the title of this post. In response on my regular readers responded the below statement, which in turned ended up in a meaningful conversation. The following day I woke up still thinking of our chat and asked her if she'd be okay if I shared our conversation on the blog should I choose to and she agreed.

"I guess it’s getting harder and harder to know what words to use. As a parent to young kids with impressionable minds I struggle. How do you teach them to be kind but not too nice? How do you explain something that’s not appealing to the eyes and not say ugly? How do you get them to see human body without any adjective?" - @gaeaborn

I can understand that ... things have changed from when we were kids and it must be challenging to absorb and then explain them differently than what we had learned. While I don't have to worry about explaining things to my own kids (because) but this is what I tell me younger cousins and nieces and nephews:
1. Being kind means treating everyone with respect no matter what. But if someone doesn’t respect you back you must speak up. And speaking up is not equal to being unkind.
2. If you can’t say something nice about a thing or person, better to not saying anything at all. Valuing people’s feelings is more important than sharing opinions. If something is being asked of you that you don’t find appealing use gentler words and tone.
3. Explain that world and humans are forever evolving. First we thought that earth was flat and then we learned it was round. First we thought human body dictated the pronouns used but now we learn that it is more fluid.
None of us are experts at life. None of us grew up knowing everything about everything. Nonetheless, we should not be afraid of being wrong. We should also teach the same and bring up the kids to have an open mind. As long as we create an environment where they feel safe enough to make mistakes, learn, evolve, and change when the world changes, we've done enough. Location - HomeTop | Shorts | Flats