We have a local airport here in town, where small planes and helicopters take off and land all day, right next to a nice little enclosed viewing area where the girls love to run and watch take-offs and landings. We took the girls over there this weekend, to watch them race around the fenced off area with their arms spread wide, mimicking the revving of an airplane’s engine just before takeoff, soaring around the viewing area for a few laps, before coming in for their own mock landing.
It was hot, and there is no shade there, so after about forty minutes of this the grown ups were ready to go, but the girls, red-cheeked and damp with sweat, had no interest in leaving. We had the place to ourselves, which isn’t unusual for noon on a hot, sunny summer day, but even when there are others there, far too often our kids are the only girls at the viewing area. Hubby and I both feel strongly about exposing the girls to male-dominated fields, reminding them repeatedly that they can be anything they want when they grow up. They’ll have enough people trying to limit them as they grow, we figure it’s our jobs to introduce them to as many possibilities as we can, encouraging them to seriously consider all of them, regardless of whether it’s mostly men or women who work in that field. The fact that String Bean’s life goal right now is to become a princess when she grows up notwithstanding. Surely she could be both a princess and a pilot.
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