How to raise a boy: In a world shaped by microaggressions, what playground politics reveal about empathy and fairness

Ever since I became a mother 11 years ago, I’ve always found playgrounds fascinating places. What many dismiss as spaces meant only for children, have always felt to me like places meant for lingering, if only to watch tiny social experiments — that speak volumes about how children learn power dynamics, empathy, boundaries, and fairness long before they even have the words for them — unfold.

After my son was old enough to manage swings on his own, I would remain in the background, stepping in only when required, quietly observing as my son absorbed his earliest lessons in negotiation. When my son was a toddler, not yet two, we were at a park playing on the slide when a group of boys, about five or six years old, came bouncing in, shouting and pushing younger children aside. A few toddle