What’s Happening: Edventuregirl!

I have a new favorite blog! It’s called Edventuregirl, and it’s all about a girl who has adventures all around the world and what she learns from them. It’s just lovely. My current favorite post is called “10 Ways World-schooling has ruined my childhood.” Oh, it makes me want to just whisk Indy and Wood Sprite up and travel around the world right now!

Have you heard of the new sci-fi Snow White movie? It’s called Jupiter Ascending. I wonder if this means we’re going to get a bunch of sci-fi fairy tales soon? Could be an interesting trend; I really like the idea!

Have you seen this chart about the wealth inequality in America today? It just floored me. The average CEO now makes 380 times the pay of his or her average employee—not the lowest-paid employee, but average! According to this information, the average worker must work more than a month to make what the average CEO makes in an hour. It’s unbelievable.

According to serial killer investigator James Renner, kids have a better chance of being killed by a cold than being abducted by a stranger. Considering that so many abductions are by people kids already know, I believe it. That doesn’t stop me from fearing it.

Have you heard about the little boy who was suspended for kissing a little girl at school? He was later un-suspended due to media and public pressure, but I’m torn on this one. On one hand, he’s six, and six-year-olds need to be treated like, well, six-year-olds. On the other, if you read the little girl’s side of the story, this was repeated harassment, not a single kiss, when she kept asking the kid to stop and he refused. Thinking about bodily autonomy and how teaching that no means no is serious business, it’s really important that kids even at this age learn not to touch each other without permission. But my eight-year-old still has occasional problems with hitting out of anger even after we constantly work with her, so I know a six-year-old’s impulse control is going to be even harder to work with. Shakesville has some pretty interesting points to make about how close this mentality meets the “boys will be boys” rape apologist attitude we have with older boys and men, but I’m just not sure I agree here because of the kids’ age. Regarding public opinion? Absolutely. But a six-year-old who won’t stop kissing, pushing, grabbing cookies when someone’s back is turned, etc. isn’t a predator—he or she is a normal young child. That said, I do hope that the boy’s parents, who seem pretty nonchalant at this point, are having some talks with him about respecting peoples’ bodies, though, because it’s something we all need to be talking about with our boys and girls.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia