Like many soon-to-be-five-year-olds, Monkey has long had a fascination with Spider-Man. When Monkey isn't making up stories about him, he pretends to be Spider-Man, saving the world one play session at a time. On the way home from school one day, Monkey asked me if people could really climb walls like Spider-Man does. As a former rock climber, I've seen a number of people scaling walls to incredible heights so I told him that there are rock climbers who can do some of what Spider-Man does. When I got home, I logged onto youtube and found a video of an incredible eleven-year-old girl, Brooke Raboutou, rock climbing. Together, with Munchkin, we watched the short documentary that followed Brooke into the rock climbing gym and her home, where she strengthened every part of her body, down to her fingers. The video presented Monkey the opportunity not just to see a kid climbing a wall like Spider-Man, but to see how hard she worked and the effort she put into becoming a pint-sized expert in her sport.
Ever since watching that video, I have enjoyed the education that youtube and its brethren can provide, despite my anti-TV stance. How amazing is it that my two little ones can see a kid--a girl no less--not much bigger than them accomplish something incredible? In a world of media where women are often only given supporting roles, it was great to see strength and determination exemplified by a female. After we watched Brooke scale walls, we watched a few other videos about American kids and their strengths--from cooking to boxing--before checking the Spider-Man-like feats of Parkour athletes.
Like a lot of other people of color, I am frustrated with the lack of minority faces on television and, as a woman, I am disappointed by Hollywood's constant reminder that the thinnest and youngest women are the most worthy. Yet, a few minutes spent with Google provide many an antidote to exclusionary programming. When I have dance parties with my kids, I play Sara Bareilles' cheery video showing people of all ages, shapes and sizes dancing to their heart's content. When it's time to clean up, I play Dora the Explorer's "Clean-up Song" in Spanish. Since Munchkin went crazy last year for Gangam Style, I often play popular Bollywood songs and watch her mimic the dancers.
My kids have already been exposed to more kinds of people than I was most of my childhood. I still remember Gloria Estefan and Jimmy Smits as my first Hispanic idols when there were few to be found. Now there are a plethora of Hispanic actors and singers of all ages for my kids to enjoy. My late father used to play the Gipsy Kings and Linda Ronstadt on his record player and now I can play that music for my kids on multiple on-line music radios.
The great thing is that after watching the biographies of Brooke and her brethren, we got a chance to talk about her French heritage and show my kids where the boxer's Albanian parents came from. When I lived in La Paz, Bolivia 15 years ago, I struggled to find a single paper map of the city and now my kids can look on Google Maps to see my mother's childhood home in Bolivia and their grandparent's home in India.
My kids will certainly be bombarded by messages from media that being thin and impossibly gorgeous is the ideal and that being white and male is most advantageous. But I hope that with the growing American Hispanic and South Asian communities behind them and with the whole world in front of them, they can see that American Idols come from all backgrounds, ages, sizes and colors.
Like a lot of other people of color, I am frustrated with the lack of minority faces on television and, as a woman, I am disappointed by Hollywood's constant reminder that the thinnest and youngest women are the most worthy. Yet, a few minutes spent with Google provide many an antidote to exclusionary programming. When I have dance parties with my kids, I play Sara Bareilles' cheery video showing people of all ages, shapes and sizes dancing to their heart's content. When it's time to clean up, I play Dora the Explorer's "Clean-up Song" in Spanish. Since Munchkin went crazy last year for Gangam Style, I often play popular Bollywood songs and watch her mimic the dancers.
My kids have already been exposed to more kinds of people than I was most of my childhood. I still remember Gloria Estefan and Jimmy Smits as my first Hispanic idols when there were few to be found. Now there are a plethora of Hispanic actors and singers of all ages for my kids to enjoy. My late father used to play the Gipsy Kings and Linda Ronstadt on his record player and now I can play that music for my kids on multiple on-line music radios.
The great thing is that after watching the biographies of Brooke and her brethren, we got a chance to talk about her French heritage and show my kids where the boxer's Albanian parents came from. When I lived in La Paz, Bolivia 15 years ago, I struggled to find a single paper map of the city and now my kids can look on Google Maps to see my mother's childhood home in Bolivia and their grandparent's home in India.
My kids will certainly be bombarded by messages from media that being thin and impossibly gorgeous is the ideal and that being white and male is most advantageous. But I hope that with the growing American Hispanic and South Asian communities behind them and with the whole world in front of them, they can see that American Idols come from all backgrounds, ages, sizes and colors.
RSS Feed
