Image gotten from canva app

Hi there

“Children are like wet cement: whatever falls on them makes an impression.”

I am of the opinion that boys and girls should be raised in exactly the same manner.

Regardless of my view now, I wasn't always like this. I grew up in a family that taught me how to act like a lady. Because I'm a female, I was taught how to be domestic. Throughout my entire childhood, my parents taught me to stay home while my brothers were free to go play with friends, visit friends, and come home whenever they liked.

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I was always at home, doing one chore or another, reading, or doing my homework. Playing outside the compound with neighbors was a big problem because my parents felt I had something to lose while my brothers didn't.

Going through such an upbringing almost broke me as a child, and I'm pretty sure there are girl children out there who go through such. My family and society made me understand that boys will always be boys; they are the free birds, while girls are always in their nest. I kept wondering why I was not a boy—not for my gender identity, but for the reason why I couldn't be allowed to be as free as the boys.

I come from Africa, where a girl child is seen as nothing. The African man would rather have 10 boys than have one girl as an only child. I used to hear them say women's education ends in the kitchen, so it means that no matter how intelligent, educated, or wealthy a girl child eventually becomes, she will end it all in the kitchen, and this mentality has made them train the boy child separately from the girl child.

I think parenting should be done with equality. The girl child should be given certain opportunities, like the boy child. I don't see any reason why a boy child cannot be taught how to prepare various dishes, wash the plates, mop the floor, and iron clothes. These are not in any way entitled to the girls; they should be for both.

The girl child should, on the other hand, be allowed to fetch some buckets of water, wash the car, cut the grass, and water the flowers. It should be for both girls and boys. Equality between the girl child and the boy child should be cultured.

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There are still families today that don't value girls children or treat them the same as boys. They say the girl child will marry one day and live with a man, and so she should not be sent to school; instead, she will wait for the boy to finish schooling before she is sent to school or possibly not attend at all.

In order to achieve equality, parents should allow their girls and boys to make choices. Allow them to study in school and decide what profession they want in life. Let them have that platform of equality. When you buy for the girl child, buy for the boy child, and when the boy child is sleeping or resting, the girl child should also rest.

Bring them up as one. Let them do things together. When the boy is growing, the girl should also grow; no one should be left behind. They should be pushed and helped to become who they want to be in life.

Place value on the girls and the boys; no one is less of a person. Equality is the key to parenting children and raising them in exactly the same manner.

I invite @mariami @pandora2010 @nancy0