The use of derogatory names to
children from other children is something that always surprises me. I always
seem to be caught off guard when a five-year-old uses “gay” or “fag” to another
five-year-old, without even knowing what those words mean. The child that is
being spoken too knows just by the context that the word is used that it is not
a nice thing to say even if they do not understand just how disrespectful the
word may be. At this point, the child will almost always come tell me, the
teacher, and want help resolving the issue.
Many times as a child I was called
a “tomboy.” I did not wear dresses, I detested the color pink (I still do not
wear it), I enjoyed playing in the dirt, and I played sports. For some reason,
this made me less of a girl in the eyes of both boys and girls my age. At times
I took it as a compliment, it seemed that boys used it when I was faster than
them at a race. Other times, I could tell when it was really used to try to
hurt me, and it definitely did. I know there were times when I was younger that
I wanted to do more “girly” things but just was not as happy with them and
ultimately reverted back to the activities that I truly enjoyed. I felt embarrassed
and upset that I was not accepted for just being myself.
While watching children’s
television shows and reading children’s books one things that I notice is that
the parents of children are always in a heterosexual relationship. Sometimes
there will be single parents but if the parents are together, it is always a
man and a woman. This really makes me wonder how children with different family
dynamics feel about never seeing their family reflected on television or in
books.
