Bossy...

My daughter is "bossy", she is always ordering people around and always has an opinion to share (hmmm...sounds oddly familiar). I have a 9 year old niece and she's another bossy one. During her dance recital she could be heard telling some of the other girls that they were in the wrong places, actually during the performance. Just the other day I was with my 12 year old cousin and she's another one just conversing with me as if she was an adult, lots of attitude and lots of opinions. Normally this bothers me and with respect to my own child, I have often chided her about her bossiness. I have warned her that she needs to know when it is appropriate to speak and too not be in everyone's business. I caution her to mind her manners, things like that. Well, recently I read the attached article in Newsweek- We're Bossy and Proud of It which discusses the inherent sexism that lies within my comments. They act as a silencer, so to speak and discourages her from doing what comes naturally to her, from trusting her instincts. Oddly, enough when I think about the kind of woman I want her to be, it is the kind that doesn't take crap from people, who is overwhelmingly confident and is able to speak her mind and can run shit! That's the kind of woman I want to be when I grow up. Additionally, I know as a black woman she is going to have to be stronger, smarter, more outspoken to get what she wants out of life, so there lies the irony, why am I getting in the way of that. It's not going to be okay with me that she say and/or do anything she wants, but I will think twice about how I encourage her to consider that there are many ways to express who you are and what you want and I am going to try to refrain from calling her or any other little girl I know "bossy".