Teasing

[cheetah]

Actually it's not just the arts that always get penalized at the middle school level. We have one young man who plays very serious travel ice hockey. He is considered to be a great asset to his future high school. He has missed a lot of school. In fact, he has missed so much that he hasn't met the minimum number of instructional hours dictated by the state. He will not be successfully completing his current grade, so the high school will have to wait another year for him. The story made me feel a little better since we all assumed he was getting a "pass" when our dancing students did not.

 

Unfortunately even our high school was dismissive of the art form, which is why we ended up doing a residential program. DS couldn't get the training he needed while attending public high school. We had one woman try and fight our county - using the example about excusing absences for high school sports - but she had absolutely no success. The really sad thing is we live in a fairly progressive area of the country with great access to the arts in general. But our focus is purely science, math, and technology. Even our sports teams are, well, less than successful. Our students are driven towards career paths that will produce high-dollar salaries.

[nymom]

It's so interesting to read all your posts and realize that children who are in sports as well are getting short shrift from schools. Although my DS' school has many children whose parents are in the arts/entertainment world, I'm not sure how many of the kids actually are and perhaps that's why they are not quite as understanding as i thought they would be. I guess, combine this with the whole middle school age-bracket issue, and it's even harder for these kids.

[cheetah]

I think for us it's become an issue of ensuring the number of instructional hours are met.

[boymom2]

My son recently moved from elementary school to middle school and has experienced teasing about dance for the first time. He is very proud of his dancing and when other kids say something to him he says that he dances and is proud of it. He is even going to enter the talent competition at school and perform his solo. I am worried that he shouldn't be so confrontational but it seems to make the other kids back down.

 

I guess he feels that if he is open about it, they won't tease him as much. Maybe he is right. We'll see...

 

The other thing that he experiences and gets most annoyed about is that people don't think dance and athletics are the same thing. He is in better shape than most of the football players at his school but the kids just don't recognize it and pick the more "traditional" athletes for teams in school.

[Clara 76]

I think he needs to be exactly how he is- confident- that's the only thing that might make the idiots back down. It might not hurt for him to have some self-defense lessons as well.

 

Sometimes, bullies only respond to the sense that the one who is being picked on might just up and open a can of "whoopbutt"

[Francesca]

Hi Clara 76,

I'm in Great Britain, please tell me, what is "A can of whoopbutt" ?

 

 

Sometimes, bullies only respond to the sense that the one who is being picked on might just up and open a can of "whoopbutt"

[Mel Johnson]

Slang is so regional! The expression is a slightly cleaned up version of a saying from the southern US, meaning to "offer someone a knuckle sandwich."

[Twinkle Mom]

Francesca, I live in the western US and had never heard that expression either! It's hilarious!

 

 

Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

(Yes, I have heard of a "knuckle sandwich.")

[Clara 76]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry.... I guess I thought everyone knew what it meant. Well, now you know!!! Feel free to use it. It's not mine but it is in usage (say this with a cowboy drawl) "around these-here parts".

[Francesca]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry.... I guess I thought everyone knew what it meant. Well, now you know!!! Feel free to use it. It's not mine but it is in usage (say this with a cowboy drawl) "around these-here parts".

[/quo

Hi Guys,

I'm so sorry, I did not want to appear stupid, but I just had to ask! very many thanks for your clarification.

Mr Johnson, now you have made me wonder what the "unclean version" sounds like!

My son now six years old has been doing ballet since just after turning five and has thus far not been teased.

However, I think this is because we have perhaps been rather clandestine about it, so far he has only told his

best friend at school who has not told anyone else and does not seem to have a problem with it.

My son is the only boy in his ballet class and has not been teased by any of the girls, they are all really

nice and he made friends with all of them within the first month of joining. The older girls in particular are always

supportive and make a fuss of him and he has even been invited to some birthday parties etc, but he is the only

boy there too and I do remember at one party, the none dancing friends of the birthday girl did tease him a little when they found

out he did ballet.

[Mel Johnson]

Because slang IS so regional, the equivalent may, I think, be posted here without scandalizing US readers. Apologies to the speakers of British: "(to) crack a tin of whip-arse". In the US, the ultimate syllable is considered such a mild vulgarism as to be merely quaint, or even slightly charming, owing possibly to its introduction to the general American audience by the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady, which was in turn lifted whole cloth from Pygmalion. After all, if it's good enough for Bernard Shaw....

[Francesca]

Hi again,

I think perhaps I'll stick with a can of whoopbutt! , though I am hoping my son will not have to open one just yet!

[HuckleberryDawg]

Hee! I hope you won't have to open the can anytime soon!

 

My son is six and has only been taking ballet for a few months; but he brought it up in school with his friends. One of them said "Huh. I didn't know boys took ballet" and my son's uber great kindergarten teacher jumped in with "Oh yes they do! And ballet makes boys strong! It's a hugely athletic activity!" and later on she showed them some videos of men dancing. Now the boys are kind of "Wow! Cool!" I had a small crush on my son's teacher before then; but now I think I'm going to build a shrine to her. :-)

[Francesca]

Hee! I hope you won't have to open the can anytime soon!

 

Hi,

My son is also six and has just completed a full year of ballet, he is the only boy in his ballet class, which is a pity, but that is still not unusual here, it is, I think far more common in centeral Europe for boys to give ballet a go, however times are changing and ballet is now far more popular here than ever before, but I think we are still behind the United States in terms of a liberil attitude, which makes all the differance!

Good luck with your son and I hope he sticks with it.

[boymom2]

My son started middle school this year and it is the first time he has been teased about his dancing. It seems that both boys and girls have said things to him at school. Fortunately, he is proud of the fact that he dances and it doesn't seem to bother him. If anything, it makes him want to educate his classmates on how athletic dancing is. He asked me to buy him some dancing t-shirts to wear to school so everyone knows that he dances. We found some great ones at cafepress.com. Now, when kids say that dancing is weird for boys, he tells them how hard it is to dance and all the cool things he gets to do like go to NYC for summer intensives. He is even signing up for the school talent show with his jazz solo. We'll see if his methods continue to work.