Monday, August 2, 2010

Women's work

At nine or ten years old, the two genders tend to sound the same over the phone. However, I always know whether it's a girl or boy calling for Andre. How? Let me see... here's what I encounter when I answer Andre's phone calls:

"Hello! I'm Andre's friend. I'm sorry to disturb you. I need to discuss a music project with him. Can I speak to him please?" - Definitely girl. And I'm not exaggerating.

"Uhh.... (pause) can I talk to Andre?" - Boy. Duh.

Last week, Andre brought home a sheet of instructions detailing a group project for music. It required extensive research on African percussion instruments and looked rather complex. One of his female classmates (the one above) called to discuss the project with him. After he'd hung up the phone, he was looking mighty pleased which surprised me as it didn't seem like the type of topic he would enjoy working on.

"I'm so lucky!" he declared with glee.

"Why?" I thought maybe he was assigned an interesting role. "What do you need to do?"

"There are 9 of us in the group and only 7 things to do, so I don't need to do anything."

"Whaaat?? How can you not do anything for a group project?"

"Oh, my job is to carry the CD."


You've got to give credit to the kids, they learn quickly. Boys learn that if you look blur or bungle it up often enough, you can get girls to do all the work. Girls learn that if you ever want anything done, it's easier to just do it yourself.

8 comments:

Lilian said...

Hee hee, so the girl called him, had a long discussion, only to tell him his job is to carry the cd? But 9 kids to work on a project is a bit too many don't you think? Never heard of too many cooks spoil the soup? Thankfully, there's one less cook now, cos all he's doing is carry the pot :) Smart move.

monlim said...

Umm... maybe after the long discussion, she realised better just ask him to carry the pot?? As for 9 kids, perhaps the teacher doesn't want to mark so many projects lah so fewer groups means more in a group!

Anonymous said...

Hahaha- this truly tickled me. So funny and true - especially in the home setting. But how strange - when it comes to the workforce - most boys grow up all wanting to be the "cooks" .

YL

Anonymous said...

Is this really ok? Won't the teacher want to find out the credit for each kid in the team to determine their extent of team effort?

~ my

monlim said...

YL: Haha, in the workforce got pay and allowances involved mah!

MY: Nah, I don't think the teachers bother. Even in serious projects, you'll find some kids do more than others, what more for music, a non-examinable subject!

Elan said...

haha, so a girl called him and had felt she had to explain to his mother that it was for a Serious Work related reason and not merely to chat up the cutie in the class *wink* :-P
elan

monlim said...

Elan: Hehe, trust me, I've already teased him about it! :P

Anonymous said...

I love this! Andre is so cute!

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