International Day of Pink

For those of you who didn't know, today was the International Day of Pink. I might be spreading rumors here, but I am pretty sure it started several years ago in the Maritime provinces when a boy was picked on for wearing a pink shirt. The kids at the school rallied around him and all wore pink to show solidarity towards the boy and stand up in the face of homophobia. Years later and it is a huge movement that has spread, well, internationally!

At the school I work at we wear pink every Friday as a stand against bullying. By wearing pink, boys and girls alike, we show that it is okay to be who we want to be and that we will help those who are being teased or bullied. Phrases that are commonly used at our school include:
-"I'm weird, and that's cool."
-"There's no such thing as boy things and girl things."
-"We are all different and that's what makes us special."
-"I have the power of one and I can make a difference!"

Now, as you might imagine, we have had many people come in and present about the power of one, being weird, and bullying. Amazing presenters, for the most part.... except I teach Kindergarten. That's 3, 4 and 5 year olds. That is, in fact, a group of 30 of these children, most of whom do not have a firm grasp of English or a strong enough vocabulary to know words like "bully". These presentations often involve a lot of preparation ahead of time, a ton of discussion afterwards and a hope that there is something they might have picked up on. This doesn't, however, mean that we don't learn about bullying, gender stereotypes and being weird in our class!

I always start with the same book, My Princess Boy. For those of you who have never read this story, go to your local library and read it. It is incredible. I have never, ever had a student walk away without some idea that it is okay to be different and it is not kind to make fun of people who are different.

As a side note, the book was written by a mother about her boy, whom she fondly refers to as a "princess boy". He is 5 years old and likes to wear dresses and pink, but grown ups and kids make fun of him for wearing dresses and shopping at the "girls" section of the store. It hurts both of them very much. 

Amazing book!

As a result of discussing the hurt that the princess boy and his mother feel, we usually end up talking about things that we all have in common, but are often stereotyped, such as long hair, short hair, and wearing certain colours like pink, purple, blue and green. We even discuss favourite television shows, the types of songs we like and our favourite centres in the classroom. Usually by the end of this conversation, we have had, among 3, 4 and 5 year olds, a very meaningful talk about how it is okay to be different. Last year, we had a boy, who immediately went from making fun of boys wearing the tiara in the dress up area to throwing on a wedding dress, putting on "ballet" music and dancing as a princess across the room!

The Princess Boy dressed up as a princess reminds me of my young-un last year in his wedding dress. So happy!

As mentioned, today was pink day and the perfect chance for a refresher about what we do, especially since we have now spent a few months getting to know each other and are not afraid to talk about ourselves. Well, my heart warmed as we talked about hair and I heard girls shouting out that they had short hair and boys yelling that under their judah they had even longer hair than most of the girls. I was tickled when boys said they enjoyed playing with the babies at the drama centre and the girls said they liked building towers. We even had a friend who showed off his beyblade and we decided that a girl in our class was probably the expert at beyblades since she knew all their names.

So do my kids understand, fully, what "bullying" is? No. Not at all, actually. Do they know if they are a "bystandered" or get that they are different from everyone else, which is why they are special? No.

What they do know, is no matter what colour your skin, what god you talk about at home, what toys you play with, or what colour you wear, you are a person and you deserve to be included and treated with respect. What more could I ask for?

~Miss. Sunshine