When Mommy (Out of Law Partner) moved from being a Montessori pre-school teacher to a fully certificated elementary school teacher, her first full time job (after a year of public school substitute teaching) was at the very same School for Very Bright Children (which I will call SVBC)
As an infant, RG was enrolled in the school’s crèche. They did not require intelligence testing for infants. It was convenient in that Mommy could visit and nurse RG during her own lunch break.
As RG progressed from infancy to toddling, Mommy and Mama (Random Daughter) became dissatisfied with SVBC’s crèche/preschool and transferred her to pre-school #2. After a while, they became dissatisfied with pre-school #2 and transferred her to pre-school #3, conveniently only a few blocks away from Mommy and Mama’s house.
However, the Mommies became dissatisfied with pre-school #3. One of their criticisms was that discipline had become negative and sexist. Little boys tend to be a little more rambunctious than girls; Mommy had observed the school a few times and seen several boys were frequently put on “time outs” instead of being encouraged to play more constructively. The expectation seemed to be that boys would be “bad” and this prejudice became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The mommies began to consider sending RG back to SVBC again with the goal of putting her in a school where boys and girls each get to be…well boys and girls. RG may have two mommies, but they realize she may grow up to marry a guy (these things happen), and they hope that if that happens, she will give him a fair start in the battle/race we call wedlock.
Though with all the tenrec influence in our family I’m not sure that is really possible.
Tags: Pre-School
April 6, 2008 at 11:15 pm |
Oh, of course it is. And if she’s able to appreciate maleness (having you for a grandfather should help) as well as femaleness, no matter who she partners with she will have a nicer life. I don’t know how being properly respectful of females somehow turned into being disrespectful of males, but it does seem to have.
April 8, 2008 at 3:08 pm |
I think it’s also true that regardless of gender, different children respond to different forms of correction, and doing the same thing for every kid is about as effective as parents parenting two siblings in exactly the same way. People are individuals, and what shames one child will egg another on to repeat the behavior.
April 8, 2008 at 6:41 pm |
That’s why having only one child worked out well for us. If we’ve had two, it would have a major league disaster. [Wipes brow.] Whew! That was a close call..
April 8, 2008 at 8:49 pm |
A slightly more serious answer. Because my relationship with my father had been so bad, when my wife (unexpectedly) became pregnant from our honeymoon, I was terrified of having a son. My wife’s labor was quite rapid, little more than an hour. I was very relieved at my daughter’s birth 1) that the labor went smoothly and quickly (easy for me to say) and 2) that my child was a daughter and not a son. With my uncertain parenting skills, I felt that I had at least a bit of a chance at being a decent father to a daughter.
But who knows? If I had been the father of a son, perhaps I would have risen to the occasion and done all right as a dad.