My daughter is the kind of girl who loves math and science. She loves building things with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, and anything she can find in the recycling bin. When I heard about GoldieBlox, the engineering toy for girls, I ordered one immediately. She asked to watch the Kickstarter video over and over, and when it finally arrived, she loved it.
My daughter is the kind of girl who gets things pretty quick. The downside is that when she has to work hard for something, she sometimes gives up too easily. When I found this TedX talk, I knew I wanted to show it to her. I thought maybe she’d be more receptive to the “don’t give up” message if she heard it from the woman who invented one of her favorite toys.
My daughter isn’t the kind of girl who will sit still for a 17 minute video. I was surprised that — except for one quick break to grab her GoldieBlox toy — she watched the whole thing. Watching her was amazing.
My daughter’s eyes lit up as soon as Sterling talked about engineers being creative and artistic. I could see the wheels turning in her head when Sterling talked about inventing and designing things. “Mama, what’s a catapult?”
When I tried to talk to her afterward about the “work hard” message, she was already tuning me out. I’m pretty sure she was wondering how to get her hands on a soda bottle, string, paperclips and foam core.
I hope Bright Lights has a summer camp for ME101.