This year my daughter starts third grade. She is starting to turn into this wonderful little student who can actual explain what she is learning. She is also able to tell me all I ever wanted to know about a subject. She was fascinated with tape worms , she did her research. I was not so fascinated.
However, when her school room assignment came and her Best friend forever like a sister to her was also in her class we knew it had to be changed. It had absolutely nothing to do with the teachers assigned. It had everything to do with those two can not NOT talk to each other if they are in the same room. We gave it a go last year. They found ways around actually talking. They pantomimed… Because that is not the least bit distracting to others. They had their own sign language. While that was ingenious , work was not getting done. It was requested that my daughter be moved, which was approved. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
The new selection was with a male teacher. My first thought was, no! The what if’s invaded.
What if he comes off too gruff and she burst into tears?
What if he ……… insert fifty million irrational reasons.
A friend of mine told me I was lucky. She wished her kids could get in a class with a male teacher. Say what?
I had to step back and think , am I seeing this objectively or am I acting only on emotions?
When I really thought about it, I was acting solely on emotions. She is nine years old. An adult will say something stern to her she may not like. It may be a man. I can’t keep her emotional state in a bubble. Boy do I want to though!! Then I started thinking back, my favorite elementary school teacher was a male teacher. I had always admired the difference in interactions with the kids, I saw when teaching with another male teacher. I actually had a male teacher as my co-teacher several times.
Once I stepped back and really looked at the situation. I realized I was actually okay with this. In fact, perhaps he will be that MAGIC teacher for her. We all have one who has opened our eyes to something. There are so few male teachers we should be grateful when our children get the opportunity to have a male teacher.
Was I really going to let a difference in gender be the deciding factor? Turns out , that no I was not. We have told her she can be whatever she wants to be. There are no boy jobs or girl jobs, there are just jobs. If I changed her room based solely on gender am I not sending her a mixed message.
This summer her math tutor pushed her and was a bit hard on her. She realized quickly that she was doing that to get the best work out of her. It has only helped her.
Now I can’t wait for what the new year holds!
chronicallysickmanicmother 