If your 1st grade daughter won the "fashionista" award at school...

[Anonymous]

What would you think as she showed you her "award" at home? Fyi: the other awards given to classmates included great speller, most energetic, best helper, etc.

[Anonymous]

My 3rd grader got this (well, similar, "most fashionable girl") and I thought it was poor judgment on the part of the teacher who also gave out "most caring" and "smartest."

[Anonymous]

I'd think I need to nip this superficiality in the bud, honestly.

[Anonymous]

I would be glad that she got her father's artistic side.

[Anonymous]

I would think that:

1) All your hard work and effort to make her look nice for school each day was noticed

2) The teachers ran out of things to award the children; a downside of "everybody gets an award".

3) Bigger things are yet to come for her! (Keep it so you can showcase it when she has her big debut as a designer during Fashion Week!)

[Anonymous]

That the 1st grade teachers got the "Not Sharpest Tack in the Box" award when they were in 1st grade?

[Anonymous]

I think superlative awards, even in high school, are just plain awful. They are giant labels and many people take them to heart. The idea that a teacher is giving out labels at all is insane to me.

I know they are meant in fun, but I think their intent and their actual impact are very different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think superlative awards, even in high school, are just plain awful. They are giant labels and many people take them to heart. The idea that a teacher is giving out labels at all is insane to me.

I know they are meant in fun, but I think their intent and their actual impact are very different.

I don't necessarily agree. At that age, when everyone gets one, kids are happy to be awarded with something. I'm definitely not in the camp of everyone deserves a trophy, but when you see the big smiles of the kids who aren't used to being positively rewarded, it's pretty satisfying. At our school's assembly, they had a "Best Class Participant" award and the boy who won had a big ol' grin on his face and was ready to pose for pictures upon receiving his certificate. His "success" didn't make anyone feel bad because they all received positive awards too (Best at Math Facts, Most Caring, Future Author, Best Teammate, etc...). Everyone was smiling and happy...what's wrong with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think superlative awards, even in high school, are just plain awful. They are giant labels and many people take them to heart. The idea that a teacher is giving out labels at all is insane to me.

I know they are meant in fun, but I think their intent and their actual impact are very different.

I don't necessarily agree. At that age, when everyone gets one, kids are happy to be awarded with something. I'm definitely not in the camp of everyone deserves a trophy, but when you see the big smiles of the kids who aren't used to being positively rewarded, it's pretty satisfying. At our school's assembly, they had a "Best Class Participant" award and the boy who won had a big ol' grin on his face and was ready to pose for pictures upon receiving his certificate. His "success" didn't make anyone feel bad because they all received positive awards too (Best at Math Facts, Most Caring, Future Author, Best Teammate, etc...). Everyone was smiling and happy...what's wrong with that?

The problem is exactly what OP is experiencing- she's now trying to interpret what this award meant. Does it mean her kid is too dumb to have been awarded an academic prize? Does it mean her kid is too focused on clothing? Does it mean her kid is now being rewarded in a sexist manner? And you can bet these thoughts are going through her kid's head too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think superlative awards, even in high school, are just plain awful. They are giant labels and many people take them to heart. The idea that a teacher is giving out labels at all is insane to me.

I know they are meant in fun, but I think their intent and their actual impact are very different.

The impact is ... he that was funny and that one was a miss. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would think that:

1) All your hard work and effort to make her look nice for school each day was noticed

2) The teachers ran out of things to award the children; a downside of "everybody gets an award".

3) Bigger things are yet to come for her! (Keep it so you can showcase it when she has her big debut as a designer during Fashion Week!)

This. This is what I would think.

I wouldn't try to find deeper meaning in it either.

[Anonymous]

I hate things like this. I got "guinea pig" award when I was in 1st or 2nd grade (I guess I volunteered a lot?). I had no clue what it meant, but thought it meant I was fat like a pig. I cried at night for weeks. I didn't tell anyone that I was upset or they would have explained what a guinea pig was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate things like this. I got "guinea pig" award when I was in 1st or 2nd grade (I guess I volunteered a lot?). I had no clue what it meant, but thought it meant I was fat like a pig. I cried at night for weeks. I didn't tell anyone that I was upset or they would have explained what a guinea pig was.

Exactly my point.

[Anonymous]

I'd be thinking that that's what stands out about her at school (at least with this teacher). If I felt it was an attempt to recognize her own particular artistic flare, I'd be happy. But if I recognized that it was more about my emphasis on her appearance on a daily basis, I'd try to dial that back. Either way, I'd want to be sure that I'm helping her develop other areas of competence that she could be proud of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate things like this. I got "guinea pig" award when I was in 1st or 2nd grade (I guess I volunteered a lot?). I had no clue what it meant, but thought it meant I was fat like a pig. I cried at night for weeks. I didn't tell anyone that I was upset or they would have explained what a guinea pig was.

Exactly my point.

Honestly, being labeled a guinea pig at that age vs. a fashionista is much, much different. All mom has to is tell her daughter that it means she looks nice at school each day. If she needs to know more, mom can say that looking nice is one form of self-respect. When a person likes herself, she makes an effort to look nice. It doesn't mean she's dumb, it doesn't mean she's shallow, it means she respects herself.