Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Jonah's Picture Day Wisdom

Today was Picture Day for Jonah at school. When I picked him up this afternoon I asked him how it went. Here is his response:

Jonah-"I smiled really good, but there was one thing that I didn't like."
Mom-"What wa
s that?"
Jonah-"They told me to say 'Girls stink!' and I didn't think that was a nice thing to say. And they told the girls to say 'Boys stink!' and that's not nice either. It just broke my heart
(Yes, he really did say that it broke his heart. My little guy is sensitive that way) when they told me to say that because I think girls and boys are nice and I don't like to say mean things."

I have to agree with him on this one. Whatever happened to "Say Cheese!" and stuff like that? Do we really need the school photographer ingraining sexist messages into our elementary students? I think not. I'm glad Jonah recognized it for what it was, something mean, and wouldn't say it. I don't think I had such deep thoughts at the age of 6.

3 comments:

Amanda and Ryan said...

I guess I understand why the photographer would say that, it's easy and would get a reaction from kids, but I've never really looked at it from Jonah's point of view before. The kid has a valid point for sure!

Megan D. said...

what a sweetheart! i love that story :)

Camille said...

What a cute story! You are such a good mom!! I love that you've raised him to be nice to everyone!