Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Dress Code Fallout

I believe I mentioned that the other day, Smaller Son went to school with a decidedly non-standard outfit on. His school shirt was inside out. His socks were wildly mismatched, and he wore blue gumboots. I mentioned the shirt to him, and he just shrugged, and said, "I know." I didn't bother mentioning the socks or the boots. They're pretty much standard for him.

However, on that particular day he also wore a folded newspaper hat, after the fashion of Calvin & Hobbes. The boys have been reading a lot of Calvin & Hobbes ever since we bought the hardbound complete editions. (I regret to say that while I think it's a marvellous comic, it's a bloody awful role model for growing boys.)

Anyway: Smaller Son had a newspaper hat on his head just to top off the ensemble, and he was blithely off to school. I admit it: I had visions of a school full of Nelson Muntz lookalikes pointing at Smaller Son, and saying, "Ha, ha!" But I figured, you know... he has to learn someday, right?

Of course, by that afternoon I'd forgotten all about it. I didn't think to ask him anything until yesterday evening, when he folded himself a new paper hat. "What happened to the old one?" I said. "What did they think about it at school?"

"Well, a couple of kids laughed," he said, very calmly. "At first. But then our whole class made paper hats and decorated them, and we wore them for the rest of the day. Everybody really liked them."

"Yeah," his brother chimed in. "They were all wearing them in the playground. I had to show some of my class how to make them too."

Okay, fine. I know when I'm beaten!

18 comments:

  1. Yep definetely a mistake to elt them read C&H before they're teenagers!! Still have to get me one of those hardbound collections...

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's awesome!

    Ooh yes I want the hardbound too...someday!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thought you were going to say that because of Smaller Son's outfit, the school went all parochial on your ass--threw in some plaid uniforms and a parish priest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love it! Good on your guy for not being frightened to do something different. Sounds like a lot of fun was had in the process. Priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My littlest bloke (aged 3 and 3/4) looks at my C+H compilations at times...I hope he isn't getting ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do NOT let him near any religious texts during these formative years ... this charismatic little guy has future cult leader written all over him.

    I'll get my paper hat now, sir.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ahh yes..almost the Pied Piper...could be lotsa cashola available in latter years..or lotsa women.

    well done..ya gotta let'em go, but some days..Jesus they look different when dressed

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your kid is cool! He is obviously a trend setter.

    ReplyDelete
  9. He's a stubborn little cuss, is what he is. His older brother is definitely interested in having people think well of him. The Smaller Son? Well... he's always happy if people like what he's doing. But if they don't, then they can go to hell in a handcart, and he'll happily rip out the brakes first.

    Got a temper on him at times, that boy. I am truly more than a little anxious about his next twelve or thirteen years. Mostly for the people in his way, I admit.

    ReplyDelete
  10. buy a mop..lol and get to know a solicitor / barrister

    ReplyDelete
  11. This never would've happened to me in school. If it was me, I would've been tripped as soon as I crossed the threshold.

    By the teacher.

    And then had the hat confiscated.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dress Code Fallout,
    for me conjured images of him dressed in a Mad Maxesque leather and radiation gear, a bandolier and shotgun in a sholder holster.

    I've been playing Fallout 3 a bit too much lately methinks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh and over at havock21's blogg I think the music you are referring to is from the Nescafe commercial.

    ReplyDelete
  14. From the sound of things I would have loved to have a teacher like his.

    ReplyDelete
  15. 'He's a stubborn little cuss, is what he is.' some fruit don't fall to far from the tree.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Are you certain he's not the "gifted" one in the family? He seems so bright, curious and brave. Don't worry if he stays that way.

    Peace,

    J.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Jane -- one of the problems I have with the term 'gifted' is that it's functionally useless in a houseful of smart people. I'm not stupid. I'm married to a person who obviously had the academic chops to manage a medical degree after a science degree. And all three kids have distinct, clear intelligences.

    I don't even know what "normal" is for a kid. Sometimes that's good. It means when I'm teaching, I don't have any expectations or standards. I watch the kids, get a handle on what they can already do, and see how far they can be pushed. Whether they're my kids, or someone else's, whether they're learning martial arts or something different, it's the same approach.

    Sometimes it's not good, though. Smaller Son, I know, has a more 3d, visio-spatial, hands-on approach than his brother. But is it "gifted" for a sub-two-year-old to handle a cordless drill nearly as big as he is with ridiculous confidence and accuracy? Or is that just something that not-quite-two-year-olds can naturally do?

    Or the Mau-Mau: driving along in the car, playing the soundtrack from a Korean film on the stereo. She wants to know the name of the song. I told her it was a movie soundtrack. She listened a moment longer, and told me it was "Hustle". Um... she hasn't seen "Kung Fu Hustle" in over six months, and has probably only ever seen it twice. So with that grand experience behind her, she's identified the music on my soundtrack album as Chinese - at least as closely as she can. (The song in question was Chinese, by the way.)

    Heredity says the kids are going to be bright. Natalie's parents are sharp. So were mine. What's "gifted"? In this family, being 'normal' would be... a little slow, really.

    Sometimes I really don't know what the hell I'm going to do with all of them. All I really know is that it's got to be one at a time, treating each one individually, because they're all very different.

    ReplyDelete
  18. There are times when being placent and normal are more comfortable than being insightful and perceptive; but in the end, intelligence is always the best weapon in this world.

    Peace,

    J.

    ReplyDelete