Our son had his first case of peer pressure yesterday. We don't really push any gender norms on him, he prefers swords and cars so thats generally the kind of items we get him as gifts. But we also do things like enjoy Disney movies and since we go to Disneyland and DCA often he enjoys things like "The Little Mermaid".
His TK class was allowed to go to the library and check out a book. The book would have to be left in their cubbies and he wasn't super clear with me on when they could read the books only that it was so cool. (We read to him every night so hes very familiar with books). The book he chose to get from the library was "An Ariel book". So i assume it was some entry level book that had lots of pictures. I asked him how he liked it and he said it was "cool". That pretty much ended the conversation.
I found out the next day that he had a talk with Lani in the car on the way home. Another kid in his class saw that James and chosen an Ariel book and said "Ariel is stupid". James didn't mention it to the teacher and when Lani said that it wasn't very nice and you do not have to listen to him if you like the book its ok. He said that he did like it.
Who teaches 4/5 year olds that something is "stupid". Their older siblings and their parents. Someone had to go out of their way to impress upon this other kid that a story is dumb. Makes me sad. I really hate most of the kids shows he watches because they are super annoying but we let him watch them because he likes them. It really makes me think that I have to watch what I say around him so that he doesn't ruin another kids happiness because he father doesn't like something.
