Lessons from Little Britches #1

So, I read "Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers" by Ralph Moody after my sister, Shan'l, recommended it, and then friend, Sonja also passed on good reviews of it.

It's a story written through the eyes of an 8 year old boy named Ralph in the early 1900's. His family moved from the city to an old, broken down ranch in Colorado. The story is how the family fixes up the ranch and the adventures, experiences, and life-lessons this little boy learns during their time there.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the simple writing style and how wise the father was in teaching his son to become a man. There were several stories in the book that caused me to really think...

Lesson #1:
Are we raising a bunch of Sissy's?

When Ralph moves to their new ranch, he and his bigger sister have to go to a new school. His well-educated mother is determined not to raise a bunch of red-necks just because they live in the country. She sends Ralph to school in a Buster Brown suit and tells him he'd better not get in any fights. The Bible says if your enemy smites one cheek, to turn the other. Of course, he is picked on at school and a bigger boy beats him up the first day. The teacher sends home a note and suggests that he come to school in overalls like the other children. This infuriates his mother and he continues to wear a suit so school. He gets beat up every day for a few weeks. Finally one day Ralph decides to fight back. He ends up beating up the bigger boy and winning the fight. It says that recess should have been over, but the teacher didn't ring the bell till the fight was over. That day she sent a note home to his mother that said: "It looks like Ralph has made his adjustment now." After that, Ralph was allowed to wear overalls to school and never had any trouble with any of the other kids.

Although I agree with Ralph's mother in wanting to raise a gentleman, I think it's good and healthy for a boy to be able to stick up for himself and hold his own. I think the most interesting part of this story is the role the teacher played. She stayed out of Ralph's business. You know she had to be aware it was going on, but she let it take it's course. How many times do we jump in and save our kids from their own problems? I don't consider myself a "helicopter parent", but I still don't know if I could stand by and watch a neighborhood kid bloody my kid's nose. But the teacher knew that even if she stepped in, she wouldn't solve the problem...she would most likely just delay it. So she let it take it's course, and Ralph was able to solve his own problem and gain the respect of his peers.

The sad thing is, that in our modern world with everyone being so sue-happy, this could never be allowed to happen. The teacher would be held responsible for the behavior of the bully (who would continue to bully), or the child acting in self-defence would most likely receive the same punishment as the aggressor. And with the kind of things our city-boys spend their time entertaining themselves with (TV, movies, video games) may also fuel imaginations that seem to make playground issues much more serious than just flying fists. Guns and knives are brought to school, and even 2nd graders are committing sexual assault on other students.

When we take away a boy's in-born instinct to fight to defend his honor, or someone else's and opportunities to fix things, to build things, and perform hard labor, what is left to define his manhood? No wonder we live in a world with so many people with gender-confusion.