Wow, a fall from 7 meters! He is lucky to be alive then
Actually I myself was rather quiet and somewhat withdrawn as a kid. I little less wild than the typical boy maybe. But yeah, I still liked climbing trees, starting fires, fishing etc. In class I had no problem sitting still I think... I had a problem actually paying attention though
People are different. Boys are different from each other, with different characters and needs. But I feel that this is not what this campaign is actually about...
Last night I watched some talk shows on Dutch television. In one of these talkshows there was an male behavior expert and a female feminist at the table. The feminist women was of course angry and tried to make it all about the girls again. "What about girls, are they not important", "Some girls like to play outside and climb trees...", "Young girls can have problems too, why should it only be about boys." Interesting to watch. But again, I feel she missed the point of the campaign...
Then I watched another talkshow, where the host is a woman. Actually here all the women, including the female host, agreed and thought it was a good campaign. Not all women are crazy feminists
One of the women said that tests for young children are indeed more geared towards girls, instead of boys, with more questions about language and less about simple calculations.
What I feel this campaign is actually about is the behavioral problem that boys (and maybe some girls too) can develop, when they don't have the freedom to experiment en "get themselves dirty". Whether this is actually true is debatable. It is a broad generalization maybe, but from what I can see female teachers are indeed a bit more careful and have safer boundaries for children. Not stricter boundaries however! I feel that male teachers, in general, will have broader boundaries, but are stricter whenever a boundary is crossed.
Apparently boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls, and are on medication for ADHD five times more often than girls. I actually know a young boy (a friend of my bosses son, who is 5 or 6 years old) that is diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication for it. The boy is 5 or 6 years old! He is given medication because it is easier to handle him in class when he is less busy and energetic. To me that feels like he is being tranquilized in order to fit into the "system" better. I am not an expert on this subject, but to me it feels wrong... This way at the young age of 5 the boy is already given the message that something is wrong with him. That he is not good enough the way he is, and needs to be fixed for it (with medication). Sad!