“We teach girl’s shame; close your legs, cover yourself, we make them feel as though by being born female they’re already guilty of something” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie rightly quoted! Such is the case of our society and  the world we live in. So many reformations and developments occur all around the world everyday. But one such issue that have been stagnant throughout is that of ‘changing our views related to the upbringing of our children’. Why are we so reluctant to teach our son about how he should behave with other women? Why are we still stuck with the very old statement. ‘you are a girl, it’s you have to take care of yourself from the hungry men out there waiting to pounce on you’? Read on to find the fallacies related to this ignorance.

Amidst the village, lived a couple with their daughter and son. From their childhood itself, the father made sure that he taught his girl to dress, sit and talk properly. They were given the best education in a co-ed school. The couple never failed to educate the girl about the barbaric happenings  that took place around the world, to the same gender she shared. Now here, today’s generation will call them the ‘conservative kind of parents’. Well that maybe true! Freedom is to be given to every single human regardless of caste, creed and most importantly gender. But certainly not to a level where they exploit it because if there’s no freedom to live, then what’s the difference between a caged bird and mankind? It is right to educate or indeed warn your daughter about the monstrous people she may face in the world , but unfair when you leave your son the way he wants to live just because he is a guy and assuming that he’ll know how to manage any kind of situations. He may crib and protest when he’s put under certain restrictions telling that he knows what is right and wrong and that he do not wish to be called a ‘mama’s boy‘ or so on. If his views are accepted, then why not a girl’s?Why suppress her? What wrong did she do to face such restrictions? Just because she was born a girl? Well the couple was so concerned about their girl’s safety and preparing her for the  world, that they didn’t take time to make their son understand the way he should behave to a woman. Alas! The parents were shattered and filled with guilt when they heard the news that somewhere, somehow, someone’s daughter was abused brutally by a young man, who was none other than their son.

It shouldn’t be always about “teach your daughter..” ; instead try teaching your son how to speak to a woman too.  While restricting your daughter from wearing certain dresses and going to certain places, also teach your son how to look at and appreciate a woman. So many cases around the world, where a father rapes their newborn, a kindergarten student molesting a female friend of his, male teachers  brutally forcing themselves on a student, eve-teasing  and so on. So many stories to read about in daily newspapers but is there a stern action that we as the citizens of our country are taking? The government tries to protect such mankind from the agitated crowd fighting for their sentence. Why? What about the pain and terror that the innocent soul went through? Why is the plead and cry of a girl unnoticed? A small step taken in your home can lead to miracles. Teach your son how to respect woman not because their mother or sister or their loved ones belong to that category, but just because women are also people .  “You are not just raising your son.. You are raising somebody’s husband and somebody’s father. Raise him well! “