Who do we tell our children they should be?

Recently as I was scanning through a few videos on TED.com, I came across the following talk by Colin Stokes about the messaging of gender roles within films.

http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_stokes_how_movies_teach_manhood.html

Whilst I am not sure about the way he finished the talk, I feel the key message about what roles we seem to be telling our boys and girls is a big challenge. He said that generally the message is that the man needs to be strong, a warrior, and fight, and then take his prize - a beautiful women. The women normally have a support, background role, not carrying anything of significance. I think both are sad, as they do not seem to provide direction as to what significance their lives can play, and how they could go about it - guys don't need to aggressively fight to get the prize, and girls don't need to subject themselves to men's raw desires and wants.

I think for me, whilst I do not have kids yet, it is a challenge for me for the future, as to what will I allow to influence my kids and their thoughts about themselves and their siblings, and even those around... as we are all truly significant.