Sort of AIBU, but I'm too much of a wuss for the real thing. Picked DD (nearly 3) up from nursery today. She and her friend had decided they would fly (were leaning over a table waving their legs in the air). Nursery worker told them to put their feet on the floor. I asked DD: "Are you a dragon?" She said she wasn't and I told her that, in that case, she wasn't allowed to fly. Cue two small girls deciding that they ARE in fact dragons (although they don't climb back on the table). Nursery worker then says: "You're not dragons. Dragons are nasty, aren't they? What about fairies? Are you fairies?" Further cue two small girls deciding to be fairies instead. So... Was the nursery worker just trying to calm down two excitable little girls at the end of a long day, or was she trying to fit them into pretty little gender roles? And if the latter, is it completely inevitable?
In the interests of full disclosure (in true AIBU style) another member of staff has previously told me how much she hates DD playing the mud and how un-feminine it is. Also, DD has just moved up to the pre-school room and by the end of her first week was coming home and asking me why I wear "boy
shoes". I add the last bit because I suspected that some of this gender division stuff is just coming to her attention for the first time, courtesy of the older kids in the room, but now wonder whether the staff are 'helping'.
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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions
is it me, nursery or society?
5 replies
Mandyville · 07/10/2011 20:32
OP posts:
StewieGriffinsMom ·
07/10/2011 22:03
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