I have just discovered that I am not as liberal and free-thinking as I thought I was. Like everyone else, without realising it, I am expecting people to slot into nicely defined roles.
Now, if someone expected me to wear pink, dress in frilly clothes and wear my hair in neat bunches, just because I am female, I would be very unimpressed. Worse still, if I was expected to spend my days at home cooking and cleaning, and it was automatically assumed I could never forge my own career, if I wanted to, just because I was female, then I would be pretty mad.
I would probably become a tom boy and retrain as a train driver just to prove a point. I have never approved of people being slotted into stereotypical roles based solely on their gender. But today I have found myself doing exactly that.
Oh dear.
With IJ, aged 5, I have realised that I dress her in pink, I put pretty bands in her hair and I buy her Barbie dolls. She has a garage and a train set of course but, probably without really realising it, I have been steering her towards all-things girly. And her grandparents have done exactly the same.
So yesterday, when she brought home an invitation to take part in a charity football match at her school, I was unimpressed. My immediate thought was:
Football is for boys!
And I have to admit to feeling more than a little annoyed that an event had not be planned to cater for the needs of the girls. I wondered if perhaps they were going to put on some sort of dance competition so that the girls were not excluded.
Then I forgot about it.
But IJ didn't.
She has been talking about the football match practically non-stop. She is really excited about it. She wants me to sign the consent form so she can join in and has been practising penalty shoot-outs in the front room.
And it has taken me completely by surprise. I had no idea that she would be interested. I had assumed that she would not be. I had honestly believed it was just for boys, and I'm more than a little ashamed of myself.
I have told her of course that she can take part, and IJ is thrilled.
I have also retrieved the consent form from the bin, in secret!
