Girls are Princesses, Boys are Superheroes

Belated post for 2nd Dec (post 2)
I was re-reading the article and thinking about Kayla. Perhaps it is really true about how young children are capable of sophisticated levels of thinking and reasoning when they have the necessary knowledge… I wonder how often have I underestimated her ability to understand things… Being the only child and only grandchild, she is pretty much in the world of adults. She picks up comments and understands nuances so clearly. The other day, she commented, “Girls are Princesses and boys are Superheroes”. When I asked her if Papa was a Superhero, she very confidently said, “No.” When questioned why, she replied, “because Papa is not a boy.” I have no idea when anyone would have taught her the difference between a boy and a man, but she knows. That’s why she was sure in her reasoning that Papa could not be a Superhero. Another colleague of mine was also floored when her pre-school student corrected her when she used “Hippo” instead of “Hippopotamus” when talking to the class. What this means is that we have to adjust our expectations of our students to expect more of them and not to assume that they are only capable of to the degree of their T-score. This will in turn affect our interactions with them and most definitely affect their expectations of themselves.

P.S Kayla watches A LOT of TV. I hope that Wright and Hudson are right about her future performance in school…. But I promise I will spend time watching with her so as to guide her and provide a suitable commentary to help her develop her understanding of what she is watching… J