Family,Relationships and Society

Thank God For Little Girls

Women's who has ambtions for their daughters are simple homemakers,full time mothers.The kind whose universe revolves around their family and their children and who might have put their own ambitions on hold just to be there 24x7.They were selected by an MNC for writing award-winning essays on what they wished for the future of their daughters.They would have some very definite views on what they wanted their daughters to be ----everything that they themselves could not be.After all, psychologically ,most of us wish that for our kids.We want our children to be famous.We want our children to be the singers we never were.Or climb that mountain we only stared at from base camp.Or soar the heights of success that we felt too dizzy to fly.Ofcourse, they wanted their daughters to be achievers.But these women not once mentioned that they wanted their children to become doctors or engineers.What each mother wanted was to let her do what SHE,the child,wanted.Without coercion.Without restraint.Each mother seemed to have decided that no matter what her daughter's choice,the mother's role would be to be there at each step.Their wish list for their daughters was equally heart-warming.Some women would like their daughters to learn to be independent and confident.Some hoped that their daughters would learn from their faliurs.When asked one women put it very beautifully as she said--"I want her to know that success could also be tinged with failure,and that you may not learn much from success,but failure will teach you a lot.I am sure that there are thousands of mothers out there,who may not be as eloquent but nonetheless are spinning out equally pragmatic and sensible dreams for their daughters.Teaching them to sift truth from fiction.Showing them how to fly high with their feet firmly on the ground.What we know need is a similar exercise on what mothers are dreaming for their sons.To start with,we need women teaching their boys that their sisters have the right to the same ambitions they have.Then we will not need a woman's qouta in Parliament.And the glass ceiling will have been shattered once and for all.