The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Cultivating the spirit of adventure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 05, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Cultivating the spirit of adventure

If you think girls always tend to step aside when it comes to adventure, think again. They do not, but their parents do.

It is the overprotective parents who kill the spirit of adventure in girls. While trying to protect their daughters by forming invisible fortresses around them, these parents inadvertently snuff out the natural talents and the creative freewill of their daughters. Left to themselves, girls could be as adventure-spirited as boys, young women as brave as young men.

Recently, a large number of girls and young women showed up on the Puthuvypeen beach to get a chance to go parasailing. One-third of the participants were girls. There were scores of others who had signed up but could not get a chance. The organisers said they were surprised by the response from girls.

Many of the girls said they had to compel, weep or throw tantrums to get their parents agree to let them participate in this adventure sport. Their parents thought parasailing was a risky sport unfit for girls.

Kerala's middle-class parents, who are generally hypersensitive to society's views about their children and who are susceptible to gender stereotyping, keep their daughters from expressing themselves. The result: their talents and dreams die young.

K.P.M. Basheer

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala