Renaud – finding a middle ground

I believe in honoring children’s rights while their parents may have alternate belief systems, is essential. There has to be a middle ground. Your child is growing up in a society that is happening around them, whether it be the school, the daycare, or just playing on the street with the children. And those belief systems are different than the ones that those parents may be coming from. Whether it be age, or religious background, or experience, those beliefs are entailed for a reason.  

We have had children that were not allowed to colour their nails because the parents identified them as male. And so, putting nail polish upon that child as the parents said, would make them gay. That is not a belief that we hold, but we want to be respectant that the child who’s also interested in doing those things. And it’s about an expression. It’s about artists, it’s about being themselves. So, we have to find a medium. We no longer do nail polish, but we can do washable crayons, we can make hand cutouts, and you can decorate those hands or you can do somebody else’s hands. There’s always a way. 

The biggest issue that we faced child’s rights versus parents ideals was the child wanting to be a mom and the child wanted to stay home and take care of the babies and cook the dinners and clean the house, and dress, and planned the grocery shopping, all of these things in the dramatic play area. But the child’s parents identified them as male and could not understand that the role that they were playing was of a caregiver no matter what the label was. So, they did not want the child to play with dolls or Barbies or other children when it’s in a caregiving role, because the role of the man is to go to work and make the money, and then that is all they have to do. So, we’ve had to discuss these. How here things are much more open. All genders can take care of children and it’s essential because then you’re raising your child to have compassion and understanding for others. So, they can grow up and be just as compassionate a parent as you are.