A couple days ago I helped Lucy B with her math homework. I chose to do this because I understood it well, and she seemed to be struggling with it. Lucy had already finished all but two questions so I assisted with those. It made me feel really smart because I could teach others what I already knew. I think by the end Lucy understood the math and she was relieved.

Yesterday I helped my sister with her reading. I chose to do this because my sister could really improve her reading and recognizing words. It made me feel important because I was helping her learn something. I think she was frustrated with me because I kept on correcting her, but she was probably grateful.

Last night I read a story to my sister. I chose to do that because usually it’s my dad that reads to her, but his English isn’t as good as mine (and my sister says it’s boring when he does it). Doing that didn’t make me feel any way in particular, but my sister was pretty happy about it.

On February 11th, I helped a waitress pick up some pencils she knocked over. I chose to do that because it looked like she was having a pretty rough day. It made me feel nice because it might’ve made her day better, and that was my goal.

On Monday, February 18th, while I was at the movie theater I gave someone a pair of 3D glasses. I chose do to that because the movie was in 3D and he seemed to have forgot to take a pair from outside and I figured I might as well get him a pair since I was going out to get myself a pair as well. It made me feel helpful because the man seemed to be thankful.

“Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress”

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress written by Christine Baldacchino and illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant is a story about a little boy breaking gender stereotypes. Morris loves to go on adventures, paint and wear a tangerine dress. At school, the other kids would make fun of him because “boys can’t wear dresses”. Every day the kids would bully him until finally he pretended to be sick so he could go home to get away from them. While he’s away from the negativity, he spends time with his mother. Eventually when he goes back to school, he found the courage to stand up for himself. The message of the story is to be yourself, no matter what society tells you. Nowadays people are so much more accepting and open minded, but there are still the select few that just can’t understand why others are different. Society stereotypes people into thinking that girls MUST like pink and wearing dresses and boys MUST like blue and playing sports, so if you don’t, there’s something wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with how you dress or who you like, because that’s what makes you, you. It’s really nice to see a children’s book address that issue and bring it to light because kids can be sensitive to being different, and discriminating to those that are different. I love how the story tells you how it’s okay to not be the epitome of what your gender “should” be, and I think it could be really helpful to kids who are experiencing this and on the journey to finding themselves.

“Two”

“Two” by Katherine Otoshi is a book about friendship. One and Two are best friends until Three comes along. One starts playing with Three and leaving out Two, making her feel jealous. Eventually the odd and even numbers get into a conflict, but Two speaks up about how their differences shouldn’t be a reason to dislike one another. In the end, Three apologizes for excluding Two, and One starts hanging out with Two again. I think that the message of the story is to not cling onto people and to be independent. In the story, Two clings onto One instead of letting One make new friends, or making new friends herself. I’ve been clingy with friends in the past, and usually it doesn’t end well if you rely on one person to rant to, make you laugh, and keep you company. People come and people go, so the best option would be to put yourself out there and make a couple friends that you can trust instead of just one person. The message could also be to not exclude people. Three won’t let Two join their games, which makes Two upset and lonely. Unless you have to, you shouldn’t exclude people for petty reasons for example, not being an even number. This story hit quite close to home since I’ve been though similar scenarios and have felt the way Two did in the story.