Giggles had minor oral surgery this past Thursday to help her adult molars descend so they don’t continue on the path of impaction they were on. If the oral surgeon mentioned her mouth was small while he had his hands shoved down my daughter’s open mouth, and it was hard to reach the gum area once, he said it ten times. I really wanted to use his tools on him so he would realize how his words affect the young person sitting in his chair. Not really the best way to soothe an anxious child of 11 who had just moments before freaked the hell out when the laughing gas made her “tingle all over” and she panicked so hard her heart rate kicked up to 138 and she almost keeled over in a swoon. Her reaction could be a good thing as I’ll just remind her of how freaky she got from a little laughing gas when any future desire she might have to drop acid surfaces and then she’ll faint from the memory of it all and decide that psychedelics are really not for her. One can hope.
She looked like a rabid steroidal chipmunk when it was all over, both cheeks puffed out and drooling from the Novocaine. My poor baby, I just wanted to scoop her up and cuddle till the glazed look in her eyes faded. She will forever detest the dentist I assume, as her first question when we got in the car was a mumbled “when do I get my braces off?” I resisted answering “when your teeth start acting normal and do not need to be yanked out of your gums with a pulley system.” Because her molars were not the only ones that required a similar treatment, her canines had to be yanked straight and pulled down with wires and bands. This kid’s teeth were a mess, she has too many and they are too big for her small mouth. Which is hard to believe with all the fresh sass that emits from that smiling little girl mouth daily. Maybe I’ll just wire her mouth closed until puberty is over.
The bruising in her cheeks showed up over the weekend, making it look like we walloped her with a cane across both cheeks but it has subsided to a nice pale orange color this morning. It’s a color that goes well with her fashion choices.
Given the mouth trauma and inability to eat anything solid for a few days, her mood was not so happy when she trundled off to school Monday morning. She made it through the day, thankfully, forgot some of her homework and was steamed about the most recent art project in class.
There were two projects that had just started while she was having her jaw unhinged, making a clay tiki (Brady Bunch, anyone?) or paper purses. The boys were making tiki’s and the girls, the purses. When she told me the girls had to make the purses, my own jaw started to hurt because it had bounced off the floor. Really? So I grilled her for a few minutes and felt my ears burn from the steam. Girls = purses, boys = tikis. Yeah, I don’t think so. I ranted and raved around the kitchen about limited vision, lack of creativity, gender assumptions, short-sightedness. And then I said we’d fix it in the morning.
My dreams were full of flying tiki’s, paper purses burning in the fire pits and protesting feminists. With the odd recriminating teacher thrown in for good measure.
Off we went to school this morning to see the principal. Because if my daughter wants to choose between tiki making and purse making, I’ll buy the damn supplied myself, if I have to and screw the classwork grade.
The outraged feminist side of me was prepared to go blazing into the school, all demanding and bitchy, because nothing ruins a principals day faster than a parent claiming sexual discrimination at 7:30 in the morning. But the rational side (I don’t know where that comes from) kicked in and forced me into professional and concerned mode. I’m not a huge fan of this principal, but it’s waaaay easier to get your point across when one is not foaming at the mouth with irrational indignation. I know several people who could benefit from that line of thought, but that is not this post.
So we presented our case, why no choice of projects, why was it purses for girls, tiki’s for boys? Can this be looked into so we can understand the reasons, maybe change the structure of that project. If it was about supplies, how can I help out. I expressed my dislike for what appeared to be gender pigeonholing and lack of creative freedom. To give the principal credit, she thought the idea of one project per gender was not in line with normal practices. She said she’d look into it right away and get back to me.
When she did call back shortly after, the issue seemed to stem from a supply issue after all. The teachers didn’t think there would be enough clay. Seems though, that after a little digging around in closets, there was enough clay to be found that opened up the projects to choice, as it should have been from the beginning. I’m not sure I fully accept that explanation, but the end result is the same, I suppose and there is no way to know for certain.
So, problem solved, my daughter and several of the other girls in class who grumbled about being forced to make paper purses will be able to express their creativity in other ways, the principal should be looking at teacher’s supplies a little closer and my daughter learned that you can stick up for what you believe in, with respect for all parties involved, and make change happen.
Not a bad start to the day.
2 comments:
Well, minus the whole TOOTH thing (made my mouth hurt reading that, poor girl. My daughter, too, had to ahve teeth pulled due to having too many big teeth for her tiny mouth; sadly, she LIKED the laughing gas, ha ha), it does sound like a pretty good day. :) Although since I am cynical I don't buy their explanation, and I doubt that anything different would have been done had you not called them on it, so way to go!
Yikes, is this the 1970s? Good for you (and your daughter) for bringing this to the school's attention and getting something done about it!
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