14 ~ Wednesday, March 31, 1999 — North Shore News

Grade 6

RAISING a daughter is
a wonderful experience,
whether you’re a moth-
er or a father.

From the moment they're
born, baby girls set them-
selves apart from baby boys
in so many ways. Oh sure,
they ery just as lustily, and cat
just as heartily. But they are
totally different from the
male of the species.

In the first place, baby
girls don’t pee on you when
you're changing their diapers
or putting them ir. the bath-
tub like baby boys do.

And when it comes time
to toilet train them, they
learn soones, faster, and with-
out needing to practise out-
side in the garden on every
single azalea bush you've
been nursing through the
winter. I write, of course,
from my personal experience
as a parent.

Little girls don’t seem to
want to charge around the
house with brightly coloured
guns they've built out of
Lego when you've refused to
buy them toy guns, shooting
at you from behind the
chesterfield and arguing with
you when you refuse to die.
Nor do little girls have their
cuddly stuffed animals engage
in mortal combat, replete
with fearsome sound effects

and disfiguring injuries.

Little girls validate the
term, the fairer sex in more
ways than one.

They are, by and large, a
gentler, more communicative
creature than their male
counterpart, and for those
reasons generally deal with
life s ups and downs with a
more sensitive, if not melo-
dramatic approach. Yeah, like
I said, girls are a jov to raise
— that is until they get to be
in their final grade of elemen-
tary school.

‘T don’t know whit hap-
pens, but overnight your little
darling changes from a sweet
child into an expert manipu-
lator and negotiator who
must have her way at almost
all costs and who will not
wait for a moment to hear
your side of the argument no
matter now hard you try to
convince her that if she
would just stop yapping for a
minute you might have a rea-
sonable point to make.

north shore news

Not only that, almost
every one of her girlfriends
turns into the same sly cat at
the same time, leaving the
boys their age in the dust in
terms of emotional and physi-
cal development. Interests
shift from Barbie dolls and
sports, to things like boys
and makeup and all-boy
singing groups that produce
whining songs with breathy
harmonies from pre pubes-
cent voice boxes.

My own daughter had a
terrible time in Grade 6,
which was the final year of
elementary school for her.

She and all her friends
believed that they were ready
for full-grown teenaged activ-
ities like mixed parties and
even dating, for heaven s
sake.

They spent hours trving
to organize the bewildered
boys in their grade to meet
them at movies, or at the
pool for a swim or forcing
them to have uncomfortably
long conversations on the
telephone.

But by and large the boys
found more entertaining ways
to pass their Grade 6 hours,
and the girls ended up spend-
ing most of their time plan-
ning, and not executing their
waetoughe out plans.

And they were absolutely
vicious to each other. The

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kind of vicious that entailed
cruel backstabbing and 3 con-
stant shutfling of friendships.
It s typical for your 12-vear-
old girl to come home on top
of the world one day, and be.
in tears the next, her whole
world devastated by a wicked
comment directed at her by
another more popular girl,
the one who happens to be
Queen Bee for a day, or
week, or even just a lunch
hour.

Once home and out of the
brutal spotlight of her peers,
the girl may momentanly
return to her soft, sweet self.
But the signs of her growing
up remain. Instead of dress-
ing up the cat in doll clothes,
she paints your finger and
toenails glittering turquoise
while you are on the tele-

mids’ siesit

Parent Information Line:
Call 985-2988 for informa-
tion on child care, chil-
dren’s services, family
resources, parent education,
ete.

SuperSunday oat tthe
Vancouver Art Gallery.
Every third Sunday of each

JE PARENTAL GUIDANCE
girls looking for Ken, not Barbie

phone taiking to vour friends.
Rather than play crib with
her father she lights scented
candles and predicts her
brothers’ sorry futures with
cards from a deck with mys-
terious markings,

That they are not listening
to her docs not seem to mat-
ter. And when she s not mak-
ing a mess in the kitchen she
san the telephone, giggling
with her friends as they bab-
ble about Spice Girls and the
guy in the second row and
what she s going to wear to
school tamorrow.

No doubt about it, girls in
their last year of elementary
school are an emotional chal-
lenge for parents and teachers
alike. Their radical mood
swings, increasing need for
Peer acceptance, and chang-

month from noon to 5:30
p-m. the gallery is trans-
formed into a fun-filled
hands-on learning environ-
ment for families with chil-
dren aged 5-)2 years. Into:
662-4700.

Come Explore Nature
with Your Group: GVRD

ing interests can be baffling,
even frightening.

My advice to parents
encountering this kind of
behaviour is this: relax, this
phase will pass.

In the meantime, establish
your ground rules, and stick
to them, Set up fines of com-
munication with parents of
your daughter's friends;
they're likely going through
the same thing. Maintain
your sense of humour.

Continue to be generous
with your love and affection.
Accept that your own little
angel is probably every bit as
vicious as her friends are. And
conserve your energy.

Because the next phase is
the teenaged girl, and she’s
even more fun!

- Iumpers@be.sympatico.ca

Parks can custom-design
nature programs for your
group or child's birthday
party. Call 432-6359 for
info and a brochure.

Night of the Mummy:
Sleepover at the Vancouver
Museum. Info: 733-6113,
local 241.

Enjoy a professional
Shiatsu massage at
home. Made in Japan.

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