I don’t really approve of this very much, but room 101 has several Disney CDs that are played relatively often in the mornings. You know, like the soundtrack to Aladdin or Lion King or The Little Mermaid. I despise the mermaid one most of all because it bolsters all the little girls in the room with a fetish for those damned Disney Princesses. Disney plays it off like it’s supposed to be some great self esteem booster for girls, but come on. I’m not a raving feminist, but I am educated in the principles of feminism and the Disney Princesses are yet another way of keeping developing little minds cemented in the patriarchal bent that our culture prefers it to be in. Think about it. All the princesses, despite their “multicultural” backgrounds are all more or less, the same build and body structure. And who are the princesses that are in all the merchandising? Not Mulan, not Pocohontas, no…. it would cost too much at the toy factory to change some facial molds, I’m sure. “But what about Jasmine?” you say. She is from the Middle East and she frequents the Princess propagandizing. But alas, if you look at Jasmine in the very first Aladdin, you can see she has a fairly aquiline nose, much like most residents of the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern area. But take a look at her now. She has a cute little button nose, just like the rest of the Caucasian Princesses that represent the majority of the whole marketing schema. Take a minority and make her more appealing…make her more white. Nice Disney. Real nice example to be pasting into the minds of our youth.
Hold on a tick, let me step off my soapbox here.
Okay.
One of the little girls in the class has gotten pretty into the Little Mermaid CD. Every morning she sits and sings along with it. It makes me cringe. Of all the good children’s music she could be singing (Tom Chapin, Raffi, Laurie Berkner, etc.), she’s plastered to the image of a redhead with a wasp waist (granted it’s all mounted on the butt end of a mackerel, but still, you get my point) who sells her own identity to get closer to a man. But the thing that I’ve been noticing lately is what she sings along to:
Until today I had thought it to be a one girl show, but after nap four of then gathered around the CD player and all started singing the tune of Ariel’s voice being sucked from her throat. Imagine that tune from that clip I showed you being sung, breathily, determinedly by four little 3 year old girls. It was like taking a stroll through the Village of the Damned. Or perhaps the Under Sea Grotto of the Damned. Either way, those are some damn spooky mermaids.
Missives tagged me for a meme tonight, so here it is, my debut meme (and I ♥ cre8buzz! Thank you so much to Velveteen Mind for getting me onto the beta version): answering Bernard Pivot’s questionnaire
What is your favorite word? ecclesiastical (it makes my palate feel so well used)
What is your least favorite word? I try to keep this blog relatively reader friendly so we’ll say it starts with c and rhymes with “runt”.
What turns you on [creatively, spiritually or emotionally]? Intense nature (i.e. thunderstorms, very strong smelling gardens, when the leaves change colors)
What turns you off? hypocrisy=PEEVE
What is your favorite curse word? Asshat
What sound or noise do you love? CB whispering
What sound or noise do you hate? alternatively finger nails on a chalkboard and three year old children saying my name (often they sound pretty much the same)
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Marine Biologist
What profession would you not like to do? school bus driver
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Eh, I guess I’ll let you in anyway.”
I have become a relationship counselor.
Of three year olds.
Fun.
Now please pardon me while I spread honey on my face and plunge my head into a red ant hill, cause really, that would be a lot less painful.
I spent all last year teaching these kids to use their words. That is like the mantra in the twos room at CHCC: “Use your words, use your words, use your words.” For instance, rather than snatching a toy from another child, we tell the kid to ask, “How many minutes?” The other child then might say “two minutes”. The kids have no clue how long two minutes is, but it gives both children a sense of controlling the situation. Child A is able to express his intent to have the toy, Child B is able to exercise a bit of authority on when he will relinquish the toy. That is an excessive amount of mediation, you might think, but trust me, when you’re working with a roomful of small children who have no qualms over maiming their peers with teeth, nails or any other random projectiles of varying weight and/or sharpness within arms reach, that little extra verbal effort is well spent. Imagine how overjoyed I was the first time I heard two toddlers negotiating all by themselves! It was grand! I didn’t have to do it anymore!
But alas, the children have learned to use their words for the dark side of the force.
Lately it seems like all I’ve been hearing are variations on the phrase: you aren’t my friend anymore. And that’s all it takes. The receiver of this sentiment totally wigs out and has a meltdown. The world is ending, Holy Disney, that kid who took my toy and then told me to go away doesn’t wanna be my friend anymore, will the gut wrenching, heart tearing pain ever end?!?! WAAAAHHHH!!!!
That’s when I step in. I hush the red faced, mucus soaked, pathetic little creature before me, assuring them that it’s okay, there are lots of friends in the classroom to play with. And teachers are always here to give hugs and talk to you. And don’t worry, the scathing harpy child hunched in the book corner that just tore your little preschool soul in two with her acidic words will most likely come back over to play in the next five minutes or so and all will be right with the world.
So recently I decided to try a new tactic. The other day three of the boys were playing together. Squirt, APRF and Trout (his symbol is a fish) were all playing around one of the doll houses. APRF had brought in two Power Rangers (were you surprised?) and was sharing one explicitly with Trout. Squirt, after trying to wait patiently for a turn, made several grabs at the Power Ranger in Trout’s hand. Trout took a step back and announced, “I’m not your friend, I’m only his friend!”
So Squirt started bawling and kept insisting, “No! You’re my friend. You can’t be his friend.”
I figured I’d better do something before the vein in Squirt’s neck exploded, so I pulled Trout aside and said, “I bet you were feeling mad because Squirt tried to grab that Power Ranger.”
“Yeah, APRF was sharing it with me.”
“Well, so, when you said you weren’t Squirt’s friend, did you maybe mean you just need to take a break from playing with him?”
“Yeah, I need a break.”
“Well, so how about, instead of yelling, just tell Squirt, ‘I’m taking a break right now, I’ll play with you later.’”
And that has actually been working out fairly well so far with almost all of the kids. Granted it’s a new concept so I have to remind them constantly to use “I’m taking a break right now” as opposed to “you’re not my friend anymore.”
This afternoon:
“You aren’t my friend anymore!”
“Squirt, what can you say instead?”
“I’m taking a break from you!”
“That’s better….”
“And I won’t be your friend for sixty billion days!”
They’ll get it one day….hopefully before I move to Belgium.
