You never hear a boy being called ‘bossy’ do you? When boys are telling friends what to do, their parents smile and nod, congratulating themselves that they will be a natural leader. It’s still not the same for girls though, is it?
When a girl takes the lead and shows assertiveness, she’s being bossy—a word that has very negative connotations. But surely we’ve moved past girls being seen and not heard as we head into 2024. We don’t want them to grow up thinking that they need to be quieter and less assertive. No, no, no!
If we’re aiming for a 50/50 split in our boardrooms and our household chores (!) it has to start in the playground when children are young.
Of course we don’t want one child telling all the other kids what they can play and how they should play it, but we definitely don’t want to send the message that they should keep their ideas and opinions to themselves.
At StageAbility, lots of our classwork is group work. The students will often devise scenes and sketches in groups. It can be quite challenging for the assertive students, particularly if there are several stronger personalities in a group, but it doesn’t take long for them to see what makes a team work best. Once they start to involve the whole group and get everyone listening to each other, some lovely work can result!
It’s tough growing up and it’s tough navigating people – even as an adult.
If you’d like your child – boy or girl – to start building these social and communication tools that will serve them so well throughout their life, get in contact to start their drama journey.