Registering a child for kindergarten can feel overwhelming. There are a lot of forms to fill out and questions to answer. It’s the government and that is standard so most of us go with the flow, answer the questions, and get our kids off on their education adventure. Not this mom, she took offense at the “absurdly inappropriate” questions the Connecticut school was asking and decided to find out why they were being asked.
Cara Paiuk said asking whether her child’s birth was vaginal or cesarean was not an appropriate question for a school. She contacted the head nurse and the district’s outside medical advisor. Here are the answers she received.
“The head nurse informed me that the form was stored in the school nurse’s files so that if a teacher or other administrator perceives an issue with a child (presumably, a learning disability or behavioral problem), that person could pull the file and look for clues in the medical record that might explain the cause.
I asked how birthing methods would be relevant, and she responded that a cord wrapped around the neck depriving a child of oxygen or fetal distress could lead to developmental problems. That seemed both far-fetched and inadequate to me. If adverse birth events are the underlying concern, why not ask about them? Birth trauma can occur regardless of delivery type. And why not ask about other possible medical explanations for kindergarten challenges? Shouldn’t they, I asked, include the question about whether a child is vegan so a teacher can look for vitamin deficiencies? “We don’t like to ask questions about food,” she said. “Parents are very sensitive to that.” But questions about our vaginas are A-OK!”
She eventually decided not to fill out the form and the school has pulled it from their applications.
