Earlier this week I wrote about my anger and sadness over watching a little boy I know seeming to fade away into the black hole that sensitive and artistic or sensitive, but ignored, little children can go into. Then today I ran across an interesting post by a mother, who, by all appearances, seems to be the sort of mum the little guy I wrote about last week needs to have, but doesn’t. This article is about the pressure in our culture to violate one’s own mothering instincts, and why an alma mater (nourishing mother) just shouldn’t do that. 
So far, I’ve raised three sons to adulthood, and I have three in the finishing school of manhood, so to speak; besides my education, I also have parenting credentials, you see. I credit their father with teaching our sons the really hair-raising aspects of manhood (like driving a golf cart up into a pine tree, or chasing a young bull into a holding pen, or riding trash can lids and other makeshift sleds down huge ice hills). I teach them how to treat the ladies.
Today it seems that the obvious must be stated: boys are different than girls. They start different, and they end up different. They act different at school, and they are often punished for that. However, since children can no longer be hit or shamed by teachers, the methods of punishment and control used in the classroom have changed. Today, schools slap the child with a label, not a ruler.
