I decided to write the STEAM parenting blog I did not find
“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”― Mary Oliver (poet)
I am an expert on communicating gender equality and a mom of two girls, ridiculously aware of the gender bias both my girls are confronted with. At their fresh ages of 10 and 22.
So yes, this is not my first parenting experience. I have a 22-year-old girl, studying aerospace engineering at a top-ten university, freshly licensed as a glider pilot and set in her dream to become a test pilot.
At the age of 10, she was chasing us with the math book, seeking our advice on how to solve the exercises she did not understand. Her goal was to solve all the exercises in the forthcoming math contest and have her name listed among the 100-scored math competitors. She is driven, passionate, and hardworking.
I had wrongly expected the same from my youngest daughter, but she smartly does not take on new goals and challenges just because her sister did so, or her dad and I tell her to. She loves us but not that much.
She has her own ambitions of building houses in Minecraft, organizing digital playdates in Roblox, drawing with code and colour swatches in ProCreate, editing videos, constantly negotiating more screentime with her parents. She’s fiercely autonomous in pursuing things her way.
We are raising Alpha Generation children
I guess every generation is different, and so is this one, the Alpha Generation. They have amazing digital skills, but a short attention span. It might take longer to teach them the patience of a new habit like reading. It might also imply accepting that math with pen and paper is not their thing anymore and if we want them to follow our lead, we need to do it in a fun, engaging way.
They have much more entertaining things to do than waste time with boring stuff. They are the same smart, curious, and adventurous children, who also need attention and involvement from our side. As they are growing up in a fully digital environment, outings with parents, outdoor activities, arts & crafts and offline playdates, all these distractions from screens, and clear rules on using them are needed more than ever.
This is a shared journey. Come along!
So yes, this blog is about raising a #STEAMgirl, about the articles and education books I read, the steps I take to instil in her curiosity, artistic abilities, critical thinking and all the forward-looking skills I would love her to acquire, the attempts we take to build good habits — the trials and errors. I will occasionally boast about my #FlyGirl and tap into the lessons I learned bringing her up. I can’t help it. She flies beyond our wildest dreams!
I also hope this quirky, fun-to-write blog will make the strife to bring up our #STEAMgirls feel more like a shared journey, in which we all have something to learn. So if you have insights to share, I would love to hear from you.
Some of our adventures are also to be found on Instagram, under #STEAMwithME.
Stay in touch, Alex
