My daughter is almost nine years old. She loves Doctor Who, can draw Star Wars, cheers when Star Trek TNG reruns are on tv, loved both Iron Man movies & can't wait for Thor. When she was little and she had nightmares, I told her she could bring anyone into her dream to protect her. For a while, it was Spike or Angel. Now, she has her choice of Doctor's at her disposal. She named our Dachshund Spike. She loves Wii, loves gaming and can't wait until she's old enough to have her own World of Warcraft account. Marian Call is one of her favorite musicians. She is a whiz at math and is fascinated by science and technology.
Some people think I'm raising my daughter up to be teased. Why would I deliberately introduce her to and encourage her to be vocal about her love of nerdy and geeky things? It's hard to believe that in this day and age, when the nerd really does rule the world, that we are still more concerned about keeping geekiness in the closet.
I am raising my girl to be a geek because I want her to grow up feeling comfortable in her own skin. I want her to not be afraid to express herself and share her ideas/opinions on ANYTHING as she gets older. I want her to not care what people think and that she should just feel comfortable being herself.
I realized that I had to raise her this way in kindergarten when she came home from school upset when boys told her that her Spider-Man shirt was a boy's shirt and she couldn't wear it. I told her that it didn't matter what she wore but she remained unconvinced. I didn't want her growing up feeling the way I did so I knew I had to do something.
Today, she tells everyone about Doctor Who, has me play my Geeky Mix playlist on my Ipod when her friends are in the car and she's very excited about helping out at GeekGirlCon. I think that the important think that she is learning is not that it's better to be a geek (even though it is!) but that it's important to do what you love, to be yourself and to not care what people say about you.
