Things I love:
1. My four year old spotted this card in the store and was completely enamoured with it. She wanted to buy it for her dad for his birthday.
2. My mom and my sister bought the card and set it aside for her fifth birthday. They used magic marker and white out to change the American flag on the astronauts suit into a Canadian flag, and they turned the little boy astronaut into a girl by giving her pigtails. I think this makes them pretty much the best relatives ever.
Things that I hate:
There are no little girl astronaut cards to be found ready made in the store. That rather sucks. I think there should be little girl birthday cards with rocket ships, and cars, and dinosaurs and all the other “boy” things my kids love.
Things that I love even more:
My daughters folded the card open and used the reverse side to draw a map of the solar system. They came up with this on their own, out of the blue. I didn’t see it until it was done. They worked together, with the big kid labelling everything. They decided that since the sun is Very Hot the closer a planet is to the sun in their map the hotter it would be. They labelled the planets as Hot, Medium and Cold. Some of their calculations were wrong but overall it was pretty clever and opens things up for further conversation. They also drew a rocket ship leaving earth and the littlest one drew herself inside. The bigger rocket ship off to the side, I am told, is a “close up so you can see who’s inside”.
Why it’s important:
Do I think my girls will actually end up being astronauts? No, I doubt it. But anything that gets them excited about science gets me excited. “If you can’t see it you can’t be it.”, is a line I keep hearing when it comes to helping empower young girls. So yes, I would rather they get birthday cards with rocket ships on them, which somehow magically lead to them trying to create their own map of the solar system, as opposed to cards with flowers and princesses. I think it makes a difference. I think these little things matter.
What about you folks? What do you think?
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