(ThySistas.com) Children deserve to be loved, taught with care, and protected. They deserve to have their personal space defended, and this defense is part of the way they learn to respect personal space. It is important to treat our children equally in this. We live in a time that is openly defining what is toxic, and it is examining the abusive behaviors of men. There is nothing wrong with examining such, but it should be happening across the board. Our schools must protect our daughters. They should not allow girls to be inappropriately touched by little boys.
Girls have to be taught they have the right to say no, to not be touched, to not me spoken to inappropriately, and the words they speak should be heard. This is very true; however, this should be the rights of all of our children. Unfortunately, while we are empowering our daughters, we aren’t telling our sons that the same rights apply to them. Schools are beginning to understand that parents will not tolerate their daughters being abused by anyone; this is what all our children need.
I realized early on that my husband and I would be very hands on parents when it came to the education of our children. We are seen at the school, we get to know the teachers, and take the time to observe our child’s interaction with the teacher, as well as the learning environment. Everyday we ask our child how his day went. It seems we get more information if we just allow him to talk. In doing so one day recently, our suspicions of a bully were confirmed. He was kicked in the eye by a little boy, but that same child touched our son inappropriately. What caught my attention was the amount of warnings this child was given.
Well, it was another boy in the class giving our son trouble. I realized if my child were a girl I would have been notified about the inappropriate touching because it was a private space. The other child would not have been given multiple warnings nor would have it been written off as playing. Just as I would have been going to school to have a teacher conference if my daughter was inappropriately touched and bullied, I went to school for my son. The administration needed to understand that I would not play the gender game. No child should have to deal with a bully and being made to feel uncomfortable in what is supposed to be a safe learning environment.
One way to fight the toxic mentality for our children is to deal with them equally. This means our sons will need the same protection we demand for our daughters. They must know their personal space and safety is valued. This will help them value self and others. If “children are our future” we must allow them to understand they count equally at a very young age. Allowing them to know you will fight for them just the same can be a start to raising boys and girls that respect each other equally and will stand for respectful behavior towards each other. This tells our sons we don’t expect you to take abuse just because it’s another boy so suck it up, or because it’s a girl and she doesn’t have to observe your boundaries. Fairness in how we handle our children may be a very important part of bettering relationships between men and women.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.