Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tails

Boys will be boys. That's how the saying goes. I don't use that as an enabling excuse, but the reality is that boys and girls have predispositions to act certain ways. That's the way they are made.

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!

Apparently a school board in Dennis Township, New Jersey doesn't appreciate this well known fact.
They suspended a 7 year old student for drawing a stick figure holding a gun and giving it to a friend. The other child's parents complained to the school, so the school suspended the student. Really? Give me a break.
My first thought was that the school board was being ridiculous and unreasonable. Now, however, I am just floored that the friend's parents went the school and complained. I teach my children not to tattle. Oh sorry, but I do. Why didn't the parents call the little boys' parents?

The point is, little boys love guns. Number One Son started making his fingers into the shape of a gun when he was about 2 1/2. He had never seen a gun. Not on TV, in a game, much less in real life. DH played with "guns" and he is not a serial criminal or a murderer. These boys just like to be boys and play boy games. Saying that it will damage them and cause them to be violent is as ludicrous as saying that a little girl is going to become promiscuous because she likes Bratz dolls, lipstick and draws hearts on Zac Efron's face. That's, well, stupid.

Now, I agree, some things are too violent for children, there are plenty of TV shows and video games that are not appropriate for children. And we should monitor what our children watch and do.

But to punish a child in such an extreme way for drawing a fun picture for his friend is mean. Sometimes our school teachers and administrators go a little overboard because they are trying to avoid possible issues. Example. Number One Son got in trouble when he was in Kindergarten many years ago for kissing a classmate on the cheek. He is a very affectionate boy, and I was very angry at the teachers for making him feel bad for being kind to his friend. They informed me that sexual harassment laws prohibited students from touching each other in that way. Yes. That is really what they said. I said, "HE'S FIVE!!!!"

There are so many other arguments here, I won't even go into boys playing with dolls and girls playing with trucks. Good grief. They are children, let them be children, it is their JOB to play and be creative in ANY WAY they so choose. We have taken away so much fun from our children, THAT is what is going to cause them to be criminals. But that is another blog for another day.

Have a wonderful week, remind your kids to be politically correct, only draw daisies & puppies, and to save their kisses for Mom & Dad. Just kidding!

Oblivious

I know you have all encountered people who are oblivious to the world around them. Oblivious that there are other people going through life around them. You know, those who are busy talking on their cell phone in the grocery store check out line loudly enough for the butcher in the back of the store to hear. Just an example.
I know I have been guilty of being oblivious myself, but I do try not to be.

I had to go have a wonderful pap smear & mammogram today, always a joy, a yearly appointment I look forward to with great anticipation. Not really. My doctor's office treats a melting pot of patients, from women in for routine checkups, moms having prenatal exams, postnatal exams, women battling infertility issues to women dealing with serious health issues such as cancer.
I encountered an "obliviot" this morning while in the "2nd waiting area." (I love that obliviot term - I'll try not to use it often, as I did not create it)

This lovely young woman (I guess she was a woman as she was visibly pregnant) was waiting in the waiting area, obviously for a prenatal visit. She looked all of 15. Really. And she had a cute little boy with her, a toddler, probably not quite 2 years old. He called her Mama, so I assume he was hers too.

Her apparent age is not what griped me, for age does not equal obliviousness. (Some of the most considerate people I've ever met are young while some of the most oblivious people I've ever encountered are old & crotchety) What I found annoying was her need for all the women in the waiting area to look and smile and comment on her precious little one. She would talk to him, smile, and look at all of us for approval. Granted, he was adorable. But like I said, this office treats a variety of health issues. How arrogant for her to look to the woman next to her for smiles about her baby. That woman might just be infertile and have wanted a child for years and the teenager next to her with 2 babies is rubbing it in her face.

OK, yeah, that probably was not the case and this young woman was probably just blessed with good young genes. But do you get my point?

My son has speech issues. He is almost 4 and we struggle to understand pretty much everything he says. This toddler I was sitting next to this morning spoke much more clearly than my son does. It makes me sad for him when I encounter children who are at the level where I think he should be. But I very rarely say it out loud. Because there are plenty of children out there with much more serious problems. They have health problems affecting their quality of life. We are so very blessed to have wonderful, beautiful & healthy children and if we have to go to speech therapy with one of them a few times a week, so be it. I am not oblivious enough to think that my child's verbal communication problems are the end of the world.

OK, so I guess you're about to ask, what is your point, Boss Lady, and how exactly what this poor girl you're dumping on being oblivious?
Well, now that I've typed it all out, nothing, I guess. Other than bringing her forty-leven bags of toys to an OB/GYN appointment for her toddler to play with in the waiting area. And the "look at me & my cute kid" face she brought in there as well.

I should've brought my kids. Talk about cuties! Then someone would be blogging about me.