The Only Girl at Her Science Camp

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/the-only-girl-at-her-science-camp/?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Yet as my daughter is getting older and can read and intuit labeling, packaging and messaging, she has begun to question if it is alright to like something from the boys’ section, even if it is something as universal as science – and whether that is a threat to the particular girl identity she has crafted for herself. We know this is a long-term conversation and that it is our job to encourage our child not just to pursue her interests, but to move beyond the narrow confines of a manufactured girliness.

Womanhood in this complex world requires strength and poise, the confidence to blur the lines of what is acceptable to find one’s own path. As a woman of color with a doctorate, I know from experience that my daughter is likely to face presumptions and questions due to preconceived notions of who she is and her competence level. We must prepare her for this as well.

This summer, she is hoping to try robotics camp, or maybe a week on dinosaurs. While the make-up of her peer group at her chosen camp may not turn out to be ideal, I’m hoping she will learn from it and keep asking questions, and so will we.