Meet 4-year-old Norah. She’s a girl who’s really into trucks, dinosaurs, baseball, superheroes, and all things “cool”, as she likes to say. Her mom, Jennifer Ritter, reached out to WYSK after Norah picked out a Monster Truck making kit at a national chain store that was labeled a “Boy Craft”. Norah, who can’t yet read, excitedly got to work gluing, painting and decorating. Now we have the honor of unveiling the super “cool” monster truck she built, and celebrating Norah as a girl every gender-limiting toy maker and marketer should know.
“It’s so frustrating to see toys and activities labeled for ‘boys’, when really gender should have nothing to do with it,” Jennifer shared with WYSK. “This may not be a big deal to some, but having a girl who is interested in these things constantly told she should only like them if she is a certain gender is truly frustrating.” She added, “It happens… All. The. Time.”
Jennifer’s aggravation is compounded by the impact this has on Norah. “It makes me sad if I can’t do it too,” the 4-year-old told her mom, making the implications of all this “for boys” nonsense crystal clear. In fact, when her sister Clara, age 6, read the Monster Truck craft box aloud, Norah wanted to know why it was labeled a “Boy Craft”. Jennifer, who makes sure to encourage her girls’ interest “in any topic they might want to pursue” quickly assured Norah, “Not to worry, we do what we want!” Brava Mom!
Norah did just that – exactly what SHE wanted – and the results are this awesome, girl-built, did-it-herself “boy craft”:
Giving us deeper look into Norah’s personality, Jennifer describes her as a “real firecracker”, a girl who knows “what she likes, has a style all her own, and is just the funniest kid I’ve ever met.” Case in point, when the Ritter family recently took a trip to Disney, all the employees were calling Norah “princess”. Well, the self-assured 4-year-old was quick to set each of them straight, declaring, “I’m NOT a princess, I’m a SUPERHERO!”
Norah… please know that you are our hero! Check out this girl we are so happy to know in action and heed her wise advice (see very last photo):
All photos courtesy of Jennifer Ritter.