Whitney and I did a presentation at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Skokie, IL this morning. The kids were great fun, they were very curious about how Whitney does her job, and how I manage to do all the things I do without being able to see. The hour flew by quickly, and as always, I enjoyed the question-and-answer part the most. Some of my favorite questions:
- Do Seeing Eye dogs poop on the toilet?
- Can your dog read signs, so if a sign says “No Dogs Allowed” does your dog not go there?
- Some dogs can understand lots of words, and some dogs can’t understand many words at all. Does your dog understand every single word we say?
The most difficult question came right at the beginning. The pre-kindergarteners and kindergartners were seated close enough to ask questions before the presentation officially began, and one wanted to know if Whitney was a boy dog or a girl dog. I told them Whitney is a girl, but when we’re out and about most people think she’s a boy dog. “Does she look like a boy, do you think?” Before the student could answer, another one piped up. “How can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?” I’ll leave it up to you to guess how I answered that one!
How funny Beth! I’m sure you did a great job answering it.
Someone suggested I should have said, oh, that’s a question for another class. Wish i’d thought of that!
So what did you say???? I could guess, but I don’t want to….I’d like to hear it right from you?
I’m a retired music teacher, and one time a child asked me how babies were made while I was onstage assisting her first grade class get positioned before a huge audience. Knowing that A) there was no time, and B) I could get fired for saying the wrong thing, I copped out. I gently whispered that since our job was to sing to the audience right now, she should take that very good question home and talk with her Mom that evening. Later on I found out that her mom was pregnant at the time, I suppose that precipitated the question. Have no idea why the child chose to ask me at that very moment, in front of a huge audience, though.
Happy Mother’s Day!
For those of use who are not proficient in doggy ID, how do you tell the students to differentiate between male and female dogs?
Not sure I understand your question here, but I will say this: being with those kids at Solomon Schechter last Friday reminded me how confusing all of this was back when I was learning to read. Spot the dog, Puff the cat…I thought *all*dogs were boys and *all* cats were girls.
I love your blogs about the kids’ questions. I still remember my youngest brother’s confusion when my parents had one of our dogs neutered. He was afraid he’d be next!
Ouch.
Not only did I believe that very same thing based on Spot the dog and Puff the cat…I also thought that coffee was for men and tea was for women. Except for Mormons.
So, tell us: How did you answer the question, oh Resourceful One?
I guess an answer that could be given is; “They told me Whitney was a girl when I was matched with her at The Seeing Eye”, or something along those lines.
Roger and Beth, I raise SE puppies and often do school programs and I use the, they told me the puppy was a boy/girl when our SE coordinator brought him/her to our family. The question that stopped me was a first grader asked why our family wanted to be helpful by raising a puppy.
The Seeing Eye told me she was a girl –wish i’d thought of *that* one, too.
Nice post. I used to be checking constantly this blog
and I am inspired! Very useful information particularly
the closing phase 🙂 I take care of such information much.
I was seeking this certain info for a long time.
Thanks and good luck.
If you are going for finest contents like me, only visit this site everyday because it
presents feature contents, thanks
Leave a Response