My Daughter is Realising How Unfair the World Is
How do I handle it?
Watching your child realise how unjust the world is, is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a parent yet. You want to shelter them from the pain of the world. But you can’t.
Bringing them up in an imperfect society means that we not only have to watch them experience the unfairness of the world, but also introduce them to it.
I was reading a book about the life of Emmeline Pankhurst from the Little People, Big Dreams series to my daughter (would highly recommend!) which tells a simplified story of how she fought for women’s rights.
My 4-year-old was confused as to why women were and are treated differently to men. The fact that women have had to fight for their rights and have spent time in prison for doing so, was incredibly difficult for her to understand.
She’s been taught that police officers lock away bad guys, and so why would they punish anyone for fighting for what’s fair?
My daughter understands that everyone should be treated the same. Everyone deserves kindness. It makes sense. It’s simple, right?
Her innocent mind struggled to grasp the fact that women had to protest to receive the vote and are still fighting for their rights now.
Naturally, she wants to trust that the authorities governing us will always be ‘the good guys.’ Teaching her that hasn’t always been the case and still isn’t, is hard but I have no other choice.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Children will see that more and more as they grow up and if we allow them to, come to us with questions.
I want my daughter to know that she will have to fight for what is right from the get-go. I want her to know that she can question, even those in authority, if something feels ‘off’.
Helping her recognise that the world is full of flaws is something I wish I didn’t have to do. But it’s crucial as parents that we don’t shelter them from it, but rather give them the space to talk about it and come to us with any queries they might have. They deserve that.
I think books (like the Little People, Big Dreams series) are a great way for children to start to understand the world around them. I want my daughter to know I’m always about to talk to about the difficult things. She can come to me anytime.
It’s not easy teaching your children that the world is unjust and that they will have to demand change. But it simply has to be done.
