That’s when we realised how the playful moments in family were excellent chances to bring up these subjects in a joyful way. After all, this is how we educate them, isn’t it? The stories we absorb when we are children will build the adults that we become.Īnd so there we were: Our kids were growing up and we were trying to raise them based on principles like gender equity, antiracism, respect and awareness of social diversity. Long hair and pink skirts for girls and short hair and blue shorts for boys.’įar from being trivial, these references can have a powerful influence on kids. ‘Our children’s toys were full of stereotypes. In this world, it is natural to act in a colonial, violent, chauvinistic and exclusionary way. And what mechanisms are these games based on? War, capitalism, exploitation and the maintenance of a status quo. Risk, Monopoly and Life have long dominated the market here in Brazil. When it came to board games, we found that things weren’t any better.
Real life was never represented graphically. Families were always composed of one mother, one father and a couple of kids. Long hair and pink skirts for girls and short hair and blue shorts for boys. Whenever people were featured, they were usually slim, young and white (which is crazy considering that in Brazil, most people are not). Such coincidences meant that we shared the pains and joys of being solo mothers.Įarly on, we noticed that our children’s toys were full of stereotypes. We had our first kids in the same year and then got divorced from our husbands five years later. Marina and I had been good friends for a while.
But to explain that, I’ll need to tell you a story first. All of these things are more related than you think. Motherhood, gender equity and board games.
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