Is she pretty in pink?

Heck yeah! And Mallory will have lots of pink, and will wear it until she is old enough to protest. But, she also looks great in froggy outfits and has worn a dinosaur sleeper. Every so often, on slow op-ed days, one finds a feminist lamenting that little girls behave like little girls .

My blog is pink, but blue is my favorite color. I look good in both pink and blue, and have been known to wear a variety of colors. HG looks good in orange, and Becky got away with wearing jeans (clean and no holes) to church in elementary school. I noticed in today’s op-ed by Emily L. Hauser , how some don't lament the truly important factor in raising little girls and boys… teaching them math facts and teaching them to read.

My sisters and I engaged in all sorts of girly activity in our day. Barbie and Skipper dated various NKOTB dolls. We read Little House and Anne of Green Gables and moved onto Jane Austin. We watched Disney, Kevin Sullivan, and various romantic comedies. But, God help the sister who brought home anything but an “A” in Math. (Trust me, I brought home grades other then “A” in Math in sixth grade and learned my lesson.) Those who did not bring home “A’s” in Math were chastised by the statement, “Obviously you did not even try… your dad was good at math, therefore you should be doing better.” Now, my parents were more forgiving of B’s in other topics… namely English… but one must not leave the “B” honor roll.

You see, there are more important things in life then what little girls do when playing pretend. There are also more important lessons, such as the world does not revolve around them, that they sin and need to repent, that applied math subjects are more important then women’s studies, and that true self-esteem comes from doing a job well.

So, how girly will Mallory be? It is way too early to tell… but the nearest martial arts school is next to a dance school… she is already being taught about the Twins line up, and she has a Twins onesie that matches one of Josh’s T-Shirts. She will probably learn about astronomy and minerals from one grandpa and from another she’ll learn about animals and from another, more about baseball. And if she wants to learn to knit, crochet, do needle point, and cook, we have plenty of people who know how to do those activities.

There is nothing wrong with being girly and feminine… there is everything wrong with not being able to do arithmetic. And if one is going to lament all that is girly and feminine, one should quit whining about the games kids play and start teaching both boys and girls things that will lead them to success in adult life.