The other day, I was amused to read this article in The New York Times. For the past several years, girls have been outperforming boys academically, and everyone wants to know why. Some entrepreneurial types have decided that the reason is that boys are simply less organized than girls. Taking advantage of this notion, a whole host of organizational tutors has sprung up in the larger (richer) cities.
These tutors are charging $100 per hour and up to sit with a boy (or a girl, though 75% of their clients are male) and go through his backpack to find lost assignments, overdue library books, and the like. They are relentless about getting their clients to use organizational tools (e.g., three-ring binders, hole punchers, dividers, and daily planners).
I’d be inclined to agree that boys are typically less organized than girls, though I have only my own personal parenting experience to which to point as supporting evidence. After all, it was only yesterday afternoon that my son Ben readied himself to tackle the second part of his math homework, only to discover that he’d forgotten to bring home the relevant sheet of problems. This kind of situation is neither new nor infrequent in our house.
Like Ben, the boys in the article routinely misplace papers. One such boy, searching for an assignment, suddenly remembered where it was. He found it in the side pocket of his backpack, and it had been folded up over and over again into the tiniest of rectangles. I laughed. I could see Ben doing that.
After I finished reading the article, I paused for a moment. Something was bothering me, but I wasn’t sure what. And then it dawned on me. Four nights a week, I act as Ben’s organizational tutor. Why am I not earning $100 an hour? What is wrong with this picture?
Sigh.
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, organization, home, school, papers, boys, girls, tutors[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by lawgeek, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
5 responses so far ↓
IntheFastLane // Jan 17, 2008 at 10:12 am
Yes, and we also don’t get paid to be personal chefs, driver, laundresses, maids, personal butt wipers…
De (Sober Briquette) // Jan 17, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hopefully, you’ll be repaid by the success of your tutelage. I’m less confident about the parents of children who hire $100 organizational tutors. But thanks for the career tip!
Lori // Jan 17, 2008 at 3:15 pm
That’s exactly what I thought when I read your paragraph about these “organizational tutors”. I thought, “you mean they get paid to do what we mothers do everyday for free?!?”
Heather // Jan 17, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Hmmm. Career possibilities.
I laughed about the folding up the paper bit. I remember boys doing that in school. I never understood it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl do that.
Manic Mommy // Jan 17, 2008 at 6:37 pm
RC isn’t even 3 yet but can already say “I can’t find it anywhere!” when ‘it’ is sitting right in front of him.
In his defense it’s genetic; Daddy and HRH are the same way. Only Mommy can think to look under the couch.
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