What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"

This familiar nursery rhyme goes back to the 19th Century but how far have we come since then?

On Thursday, our whole family attended a lovely little ceremony at my third child's school, in which we celebrated the induction of six 7th graders into the National Junior Honor Society.  To quote the principal, there was only one thing wrong with the picture--every student on the stage (current members and inductees) is female except for one. 


Why is there only one boy in this group, in a gifted school where being smart is not at all a liability and where are there roughly the same boys and girls?  In fact, in our third child's grade, there is one more boy than girl.  Is it because few boys apply to join the honor society?  Or is it because the same number of boys apply as girls and fewer boys are accepted?   My suspicion is the former.

The gender achievement gap in education is well documented in the academic literature and is being discussed more and more in the popular press as well.  But in a school where students have already been selected because of higher academic achievements and standardized scores, and where parents are traditionally informed and engaged, the picture on the stage on Thursday was surprising and disappointing.

So what are our little boys today made of?  What are we telling them?  What are they telling themselves?  Are academic honor societies "uncool", and if so, why is that? Just as we need to encourage girls to continue to play sports beyond elementary school, we need to encourage boys to continue to be engaged in academic clubs beyond elementary schools.


Let's hope that we can change our conceptions about what boys and girls "ought" to be doing over the next 200 years.  Sooner perhaps.

Integration of services

Yesterday, I attended a conference on serving immigrant survivors of family violence organized by a consortium of legal advocacy and domestic violence service organizations in Chicago.

The information shared was wonderful, as was the turnout.  It was very heartening to see so many legal, mental health, and social service professionals who are passionate about serving those who are survivors of family violence and who are thoughtful in their questions and discussions of the issues involved in this very complex topic.

The biggest challenge I see is in the integration of services.  Yesterday's conference focuses on the complexities language and cultural differences bring to the table of an already complex constellation of biological, social, and mental effects violence has on the individual survivor.  But organizations that typically serve immigrants tend to focus on food, health, and jobs, and not on mental health, legal advocacy, and other "more complex" needs.  So even at that level, we have a lack of integration of services.  While these types of conferences are great at bringing everyone and the different issues to the table, let's hope that the conversations and the collaborations continue and deepen even after everyone returns to his or her respective organizations.

And the livin' is easy

June is finally here.  Even though the outside temperature is still a cool 60-something, the pace at our busy household has changed a bit.  The youngest child has field trips almost daily, thanks to teachers who have already mentally checked out or who are working to accommodate kids who have already mentally checked out.  Our third child's numerous after school activities including track, concert band, jazz band, and saxophone lessons, have also begun their summer hiatus. Our big girl has graduated from high school a week and a half ago and have join the ranks of teenagers  trolling for summer jobs on the Internet all day long.  And our second child--well he, er--has finally started making his mad dash towards the finish from behind.

The brighter days and longer days draws my heart outside.  I want to run more, walk more, swim more, barbecue more, dance more, garden more. Yet, there never seems to be enough time. And there always seems to be work waiting to be done.

At my husband's college reunion last weekend, we were shocked that people did not look like their 20-year-old selves that were frozen in our minds.   Yes, most people in their mid-40's do in fact look middle-aged.  So whether we feel it or not, we probably look middle-aged to other people too.  Time doesn't stand still, and it's passage is only noticed when had the occasion to look back.

It's summertime. It's time to live a little easier.  Because time keeps marching forward, whether you enjoyed it or not.  So it is more fun if you enjoyed it.

Inspiration and Motivation

The past few weeks I have enjoyed getting together with friends.  One friend urged me to write, either a blog, or articles, or books, she said, and she "will read it".  Thanks Sandy, for the encouraging.  It brings me a smile to know that at least one friend will read my ramblings.

Then another friend who has been doing some creative writing shared a tip with me--write anywhere and anytime you want by using Evernote. I've had Evernote on my iPhone and iPad for a while now, and have been taking boring meeting notes on these, but it hadn't occurred to me that it could be used as a virtual writing pad, because I can access an updated note anywhere. My friend V has been writing in coffee shops, while waiting in the grocery checkout, on the sidelines of her child's sports practices, etc.  She said she is the most productive in the "car line" waiting to pick up her child from school!

As the queen of unfinished projects (I have an afghan I started knitting when I was a sophomore in college, and many, many other half-finished and not-yet-started projects since then) as well as the master of to-do lists (including an increasingly long list of "books to be written), I vow that I will take advantage of Evernote to finally start some of those "books to be written".

This will still be a less-refined collection of random thoughts and musings, but will serve well as the springboard of some of the Evernote entries.