i is for international women’s day

updated since we had our preschool day:

me:  

so today is international women’s day and all over the world, right above us in canada and right below us in mexico and farther down and across on both sides of the ocean, there are people celebrating this holiday.  a lot of places give women flowers just because they are women {insert stories and random flower giving tid bits}.

how would you explain what a woman is?

preschooler 1:

a girl.

preschooler 2:

no!  not a girl!  a girl is a child!

preschooler 1:

okay, a GROWN UP girl.  that’s a woman.

me:

how do you know if a grown up is a woman?

preschoolers (brainstorming style):

she has long hair

she is short

she’s skinny

pretty.  she is pretty.

she wears mascara

she wears lipstick

she always wears fancy dresses with flowers

she likes lace

she has sparkly shoes

she wears skirts

she wears rings and bracelets

she’s always wearing pink and purple

she can have a baby in her tummy.

before we were half way done with the list, there were calls out of no!  no!  some women have short hair and some men have long hair!  and after the lists were made, we went through each item one by one and crossed them out if either we knew a woman who DIDN’T fit the criteria or if we knew a man who DID.

every single thing got crossed off the lists except for women can have a baby in their tummy, women wear perfume and men wear cologne.

i thought that would be it…the deciding factors:  perfume, cologne, pregnancy.

then one little guy chimes in quietly:  my dad has worn perfume.  one little girl adds:  i’ve worn cologne. 

and crossed off they went!

i could see some of our PreK kids looking a bit confused/stressed/curious at the criteria being knocked off one by one.

one of those friends who had been on his belly looking at the list, sat up straight and said:  it’s about parts!  body parts!

a PreK friend next to him said:  yeah, but grown ups aren’t supposed to show us their parts so if they are wearing clothes, how are we supposed to know?

slam.

we’re back to one and one only criteria:

you know it is a woman if there is a baby in her belly.

but keep in mind that there are a lot of grown ups, men and women, who have big bellies and that is just extra skin, muscle and fat.  

so, bless his heart, the one PreK friend who thought he had it figured out said:

there’s really no way to know.

so with some waters being muddled and the opportunity to work the rest of their lives on the issues of gender, Happy International Women’s Day!

continue the conversation at home, families!

:: :: :: ::

I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.

~Bob Seger

with motivation for the world to be more tender, safer and stronger for our young ones, happy international women’s day.