March 28, 2013

19 of 65

Preschool Conferences

When Suzanne was three years old and had only recently begun preschool, Cathy and I attended a parent-teacher conference at which the teacher told us what a wonderful child Suzanne was and how quickly she learned things.  The teacher showed us a paper in Suzanne’s folder which contained answers she had given to questions asked by the teacher.  The teacher had transcribed the answers, of course, because Suzanne had not learned to write.

She was asked what her parents did and on the paper was written, “Mommy does dishes and Daddy plays bells.”  The teacher looked at me as if I might want to explain that.

I turned to Suzanne and asked her what she had said that we did.  Suzanne replied, “Mommy does the dishes and Daddy pays bills.”

It is interesting what people hear.  Playing bells does sound like it would be more fun than paying bills, though.  I may decide to take that up one of these days.

It is also interesting what people say.  The next year we went to her parent-teacher conference with a different teacher.  Again we were told how wonderful our daughter was (and is).  The teacher then mentioned that she sometimes saw Cathy jogging by the school.  Cathy said that yes, she did do that several times a week; and the teacher said, “That’s why you have such great legs.”

It was true, of course.  Still, it seemed to me a strange thing to say.  If a male teacher had said that to either Cathy or me, it would have been inappropriate.  If a female teacher had made the comment to me, it would have been inappropriate.  However, a female teacher complimenting to Cathy was simply an observation.  I always knew that women had a different way of thinking.

Vive la difference, n’est-ce pas?  We wouldn’t want to live in world in which everyone thinks as I do.