Poor Mary: 12 years old, and getting hammered by the boys in P.E. She has received lots of negative comments. I think they are just being boys, really. Nothing too bad. But it was hard for her, and I got reports from her about P.E. every day, driving her home from school.
But one day, the camel's back broke. A boy got down at her level as she was doing standard push-ups, and he shouted at her, "Get on your knees! You're a girl. You belong on your knees!"
She was furious. She came home and cried. I was mad too. We discussed it.
She said, "Mom, they're not even called 'Girl Push-ups.' They're "Modified push-ups.' Don't those boys know that? Welcome to the 21st century!" I laughed and affirmed her. So we made up the following chant:
"Roses are red, violets are blue. We call them MODIFIED PUSH-UPS, how about you?"
She loved that. The next day she told all her girls friends the new chant.
I also talked with the coach, and he said that the boy's behavior was unacceptable, and the coach would make sure nothing like that happened again. He invited Mary to bring any such circumstances to him right away. (Thank you, Coach!)
That, coupled with the chant. . . Mary's back on her feet. . . literally as she does standard push-ups, again!
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