A new student arrived on the stoop today, all shy and wrapped up in her pink hoodie, eyes shiny like a startled rabbit, paws stiff. As she pushed back the hood to show her head, I knew that I would have to talk to the class about hair, since her shorn hair was nothing like all of the girls' long and ponytailed, braided, and barretted hair.
The timid little girl stood on display as eager boys and girls raised their hands to show that they wanted to be her new friends. But, the thoughts of the second-graders went right past the appropriateness gauge and filled the room. "Is that a he?" "Why is her hair so short?" "Miss Siren, did her hair fall out?" "How do you know that's a girl?" "She has earrings, see?" The kids mean no harm--they are just curious. In fact, their innate and unhampered curiosity is one of their most attractive qualities.
A discussion on hair ensued. I explained how I had cut all of my hair off and thought that it was quite stylish. We talked about how some boys have long hair and some girls have short hair. And then, Carlos candidly interrupted (as he often does), "When are we going to talk about MUSTACHES because my mom is growing one of those."
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2 comments:
Very funny and well written!
Interesting: in earlier generations, the pink hoodie would have immediately overridden all other gender signals.
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