…And Bells on Her Toes

As I was driving the girls to daycare this morning, the girls (mainly Caity) were identifying the various types of vehicles on the road.

“School Bus!”, Caity said pointing to a Durham Region Transit bus.  She thinks any bus is a School bus.  She cried when I told her it was a regular bus because apparently I am mistaken.

Lexy saw a Cement Mixer and must have been thinking about our previous conversations about them.  “Mom, if the Cement Truck has no cement, does it keep turning?”  I told her they only turn when they have cement in them, to keep the mixture from hardening.  She got quiet for a minute and I could hear the wheels in her brain turning.

“Mom?  Can a girl drive a Cement Truck?” Lexy asked.

“Of course a girl can drive a Cement Truck Lex, a girl can do anything she wants to do”.  I told her.   In a way the question almost made me angry.  The stereotypes that have kept women in the kitchen for too many years being echoed by a nearly six year old.  It seems so early for her to wondering about things like jobs.  She should only be concerned about what she’s going to play with today, not how to make a living.  She is aware that all the adults she knows need to go to work every day.  She’s told me before that she wants to be a vet when she grows up because she loves animals.  Personally I think she’d make a better lawyer because she loves to argue, or a Project Manager because she likes to boss people around.

I told her though that she needs to make sure she gets a job in a union, so that she’ll always have a job. 

Reading the papers and knowing so many people who are out of work, I fear for my kids’ futures.  I just hope that they get a good education and go into a field that they love.  I want them to be happy.  I want them to be successful.  And if all else fails, I hope they marry wealthy men.