Pigeonholing

Okay kiddo, let me help you understand what pigeonholing means. Imagine you have a box with many different sections in it. Each section is labeled with a different category, like colors, animals, or fruits.

Now, imagine you have a bunch of picture cards that you want to put in the box. Each card has a picture of something different, like a red apple, a blue bird, or a pink pig.

If you want to put each card in the box, you have to choose which section to put it in based on what category it belongs to. So, you might put the red apple in the "fruits" section and the blue bird in the "animals" section.

But sometimes, people can make the mistake of putting a card in the wrong section just because it seems similar or related to something else. For example, someone might put the pink pig in the "colors" section instead of the "animals" section just because it's pink.

This is what we call pigeonholing - when we force something into a category that doesn't quite fit just because it seems similar to something else. It's like trying to put a square block into a round hole - it doesn't quite fit!

So, when we talk about pigeonholing people, it means we are forcing them to fit into a specific category even if they don't fully belong there. For example, if someone assumes that all girls like pink and dolls, that would be pigeonholing girls into a certain stereotype.

We should always try to avoid pigeonholing and instead try to see people for who they really are, not just what we assume about them based on their appearance or other characteristics.