Overheard at... Starbucks

"How many blondes does it take to return a movie....? Apparently one plus a man."

What???!!!!

Okay, so I am about to go on a rant so if you are in more of a - life is good, let's all get along - kind of mood you might want to check our yesterday's post instead.

Ironically enough, I was just listening to an NPR show about how the new line-up of this season's TV shows has men acting like bumbling fools while their wives are running the office and the home. The funny thing about this is that it was based on a sociological study of our current curlture. Don't believe me? Check out this link: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/12/140404987/washed-up-men-the-stars-of-fall-sitcom-lineup

People who know me would recognize the sentiment behind this post, I have been a bit of a female crusader for most of my life. In grad school, where there were fewer than 30% women in the program, I almost had to be. And, since I am strawberry blonde I have certainly heard my share of blonde jokes; my favorite being that because I'm a red headed blond I get worked up about things but then forget what I was upset about. Funny, even to me. But when I hear it now, as a mom I cringe. This isn't how I want my blonde daughter seeing herself.

And, think about it, if you replace the word blond in the overheard quote with any race or religion you choose it's not nearly funny anymore.

What used to be a public battle, though, has turned into more of a personal one for me (other than this post, of course). And, given how very competent both my husband and my daughter are I feel like we are doing okay. In fact... last year when told by a little boy in her first grade class that girls couldn't be archeologists, my daughter answered - Nuh, uh. Thats not true. What abour Mary Leakey.

She's very clever, but no prodigy. She makes plenty of mistakes; but I would blame that more on the fact that she is learning, not that she is blonde OR a girl. The point is... no one gets things right every time. I believe our intelligence shines through in how we learn from our mistakes and our humility in asking for help while figuring things out.

In my book, Jessica has to learn this very difficult lesson. She compares herself to others and feels incompetent. But when she finds the courage to pursue a task without giving up she leanrs how to rely not just on her own knowledge base, but on other's as well. And of course, she is ultimately successful because of this.

So, the guys in these new TV shows might feel incompetent, but isn't that how we all feel when doing something new. Hopefully they also learn and grow while doing these new activities society has foisted off on them, whether it is baking cupcakes or working for a super intelligent blond female.