Super Sophisticated Man About Town!

Benjamin Strait strikes the most sophisticated pose anyone ever has while standing next to a giant tin of lard. He is getting ready to participate in something called cotillion.  No, I'm not completely sure what it is.  It's something to do with teaching manners, and as the year progresses they have dances.   Alison very much wanted him to be involved with it.  I was somewhat more hesitant.  Cotillion for some reason, in my mind, smacks of old plantation culture.  The whole idea of putting on airs I find a little disturbing and elitist.

But in picking up Benjamin from his first meeting, I found the group waiting to pick up their children to be large and diverse.  There was a wide variety of ethnic groups, and the cars in the parking lot varied from very fancy to very, uhh, non-fancy.  The kids were having a good time and taking to their politeness training very well.  He learned a new way to sit in a chair, showed great politeness to his mother and even danced with her a bit.

So my attitude toward Cotillion has begun to soften a bit.  Being polite is an important skill, as is learning to respect women and girls, and to be able to treat people properly.  And if I was afraid that the boy I know and love would be completely replaced by an etiquette drone, those fears were allayed by the next day at school, when he got written up for dropping the F bomb after hitting his head  There's my boy!