When Thomas Jefferson uttered his immortal words about all men being created equal he obviously hadn't spent much time in the presence of five year olds.
Boys are stupid.......were the first words out of Finje's mouth when she arrived home from kindergarten yesterday.
Demonstrating uncharacteristic restraint, I resisted the temptation to congratulate her on this discerning observation. I was though, mightily impressed, having personally reached the ripe old age of 11 before reaching that particular life conclusion. Assuming, for the moment, that she was not simply making a sweeping statement, I took it upon myse
lf to discover the specific reason for the outburst.
This epiphany had apparently been prompted by one particular specimen of stupidity who'd had the audacity to suggest that Finje was not a "real" girl. His observation, backed up by the usual evidential suspects was unoriginal but nevertheless hit a chord. With me at least.
The justification for accusing Finje of a femininity deficiency was her apparent indifference towards all things princessy and pink, the preference of jeans over dresses, an obsession with dinosaurs and a desire to play the role of pirate/knight/cowboy, presumably depending on the head wear available from the dress-up box.
In a week where we have read about four year old girls getting spray tans, fake breasts and padded bottoms and mothers who incomprehensibly consider that to be "normal", I wondered from whom this little boy had absorbed such views. Here in the heart of rural Germany, where there are more tractors on the roads than cars and the idea of a children's beauty pageant is as alien to the locals as a wardrobe without wellies, it seemed strange. Most children here appear somewhat asexual until they hit puberty. Quite right too.
I suspect though, I am analysing too much. Concerning my pretty little head with such complex issues as gender stereotypes and child psychology.
Either way, Finje finished her "Boys are stupid" sentence with,
"...but I'm not!"
No need to worry then.