Yesterday, my wife and I went to my son's 4th grade parent teacher conference... that is a blog post in itself... but today I want to talk about an incident I overheard at the fundraising book sale that was happening in the kiva.
A boy I estimate to be in third grade approached his mother with a book.
"I want this one," he proclaimed as he handed the book to her. Her face darkened as she looked at the cover.
"This book is about a girl," Mom announced in an icy tone. Her son looked back at her confused. "The hero in this book is a girl! You don't want this one."
The boy took the book back and looked quizzically at the cover. "What's wrong with this book?" Mom sighed in frustration and looked at her husband. He shrugged and walked away.
Mom turned back to her son, "Let's find you a book where the boy is the hero." She directed him over to another rack. "Here. Here are some good books. You want one of these." She threw the other book on the pile and began loading books into the arms of a bewildered little boy.
It reminded me of a line from the movie Mississippi Burning:
Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught.
5 comments:
This is incredibly troubling. Homophobia?
That was my assumption. The boy would probably be grounded if he showed an interest in arranging flowers.
I also noted how controling this parent was. Multiple times she told her son what he did and didn't like or want. I believe she is laying the groundwork for a life of doublespeak, where reality is constantly denied and the accepted lies are encouraged.
You know, I can arrange a mean flower arrangement, design a great Christmas tree and I cry at romantic comedies. I hate football and hunting. It has nothing to do with my gender preference.
Wow! If my daughter wanted a book with a boy being the super hero the last thing I would do is make her feel silly or stupid about it!
Some people shouldn't be parents, this is truly a sad story!
Yeah, I like chicks...but I also like ABBA, musical soundtracks, and romantic comedies... don't know what this lady's problems was
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