Though I really loved the Montessori school we visited yesterday, there was one comment that has been bugging me. The Headteacher was explaining the different extra classes like French, music, swimming and dance and said that for the dance class the children 'strip down to their pants and vests and have a wonderful time'. Let me translate that for the Yanks - 'pants' means underwear and 'vests' are little cotton tank tops many, if not most, English children wear under their clothes year round.
Hmmm, stripping down to your drawers to dance around? That seemed very strange to me. Why do they need to take their clothes off? I asked J if he felt funny about it and he was fine with it. I asked Elizabeth and she agreed that it was weird too. So I decided to post on Mumsnet, my favourite British mothering website, and see what most British mums thought of it. Well, apparently it's quite normal and up until a few years ago many PE classes were held with the children in their pants and vests!!
I know you Texans are cracking up at the thought of a bunch of kids running around playing sports in their underwear. It does make me smile. Just seems like a funny thing to do but apparently changing into shorts and T-shirts is just 'too much of a hassle' and 'why bother' (quoting from responses on Mumsnet).
So, starting in September, every Thursday afternoon Toby is going to take his clothes off and dance around with a bunch of other children. My sweet little English boy. I'm going to have to buy him a bebe gun or something to balance this out. (Just joking!)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment