If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a lady. Therefore, I was once a girl child. The proof is above!
This week has had a lot of odd holidays. I generally take funny pictures with my dog to commemorate them. If you aren't following me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you are missing out on...well, just silly pictures mostly. Anyway, this week had some weird ones, like National Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work/School Day. Why this merits a holiday, I have no idea.
Today is International Day of the Girl Child. At first I didn't really understand why this should be important. There are more females than males in the world, so there are a lot of us roaming around. I personally have experienced no real sexism, so I'm not immediately lit aflame with Girl Power feelings. I read some of the statistics though. There are still countries where being born female is a risky business. And, as an author, I know that women are still less likely to be traditionally published than men. Often books written by women are marketed less and priced lower than books written by men. The gap is narrowing though.
There have been a lot of girl children, all incredibly important. I have a daughter, and she's wonderful. But before her, there were nieces, cousins and students that I knew and worked with. Each girl left her own special imprint on my heart as she danced her way through.
I was so valued by my parents. It never occurred to me that anyone would ever be disappointed with a girl child, because my parents were never disappointed with me. My parents never for a second treated me as less because I was born a daughter instead of a son. In fact, I'm not sure it changed all that much for them. I was taught how to read a tape measure, how to check the oil in my car, and how to hold a hammer as well as how to sew a button on, how to wash the dishes and how to do laundry. My parents did not view these as girl or boy skills, simply life skills. Thank God for that, because I've needed all of them!
I was shocked to learn that there are still people in America today that feel like they must produce a son. It seems the height of silliness, maybe because I am not one, It does seem that fathers are the ones most often disappointed by a girl than a mother. So I asked my dad about this once. Did he ever regret not having a son? This is what he told me;
"When I was younger, it used to bother me a little, that I wasn't passing on my name. But you are like me, and you know me and my ways. You will pass on as much of me as any son would have. That's more important than a name."
If you are a woman reading this, and you weren't celebrated, I'm sorry. It shouldn't have been like that. You have value. You are worthy of celebration.
And if you are a parent, celebrate those babies, boy or girl. They will pass on the most important things of you, regardless of their name.
