04 February 2009

NaBloPoMo Day 4

So I have a complaint about Blue's preschool. They keep misspelling her name*. The first time, I noticed it on her little backpack hook. Right above her hook was a tag that said "Blew."

I pointed it out to the teacher, she looked annoyed (with her assistant, not me) and apologized profusely.

This morning, I noticed on one of her art projects that she brought home, her name printed in the top corner: Blew.

So again today I brought it up to her teacher. And she was mortified and apologized for her assistant. But I am so frustrated. Am I overreacting? Because I do, I know, have a tendency to overreact and to fixate on things that in the scheme of things are not that important.

But. I want Blue to learn name recognition. And I definitely want her to learn to spell her own name correctly. Or, as Jonathan mentioned today, not to think the spelling of her name is negotiable.  At least not until she is older!

I know it should not matter how a name is spelled. In the olden days, a woman named Catherine could sign her name Katherine or Catherine, however she pleased, much to the frustration of historians and genealogists. Today, girls with names like Laurie change the spelling as they go through adolescence. Right? One day Lori, the next Laurie and sometimes with hearts over the "i"s. Blue may one day decide her name is "Blough" or some shit like that and I will have to smile and pretend not to care.

But for some reason, spelling really matters to me. I hate when Jonathan finds a typo on this blog and I race to the computer to correct it. And it really bothers me when names are spelled incorrectly. That is, when they do not follow the rules of pronunciation.

What do you think?

*which is not actually Blue

NaBloPoMo Day 4 summation:
want my child to learn to spell her name correctly
want the school to learn to spell already
want to know if I am overreacting

7 comments:

Kelli said...

i don't think you are overreacting at all. if Rachel's school spelled her name Rachael, i would definitely correct them as many times as it took. Rachael is not her name. i let it go if it's just a passing note that won't be around long or won't effect Rachel at all, but if it's her school, where she is at all the time, i would correct them.

Christina said...

because it's school - suuuper annoying. totally agree with kelly (and you). just keep correcting them - and maybe buy a name stamp w/ sadie's name on it to stamp on the assistant's hand every time you talk to her. tee hee

Christina said...

p.s. jeremy just said he'd be annoyed too. he also suggested spelling it in french to them. :)

Amy said...

You are not overreacting.

Anonymous said...

As someone who has had both their names spelled wrong numerous times (really, it's not that hard), I agree with you. You are not overreacting.

Retainer Girl said...

You are not overreacting. No child should be called SAD-dee.

girlysmack said...

Thanks, everybody! I feel much better. And Christina, you tell your husband that I was much too busy talking to the boy behind me in French class to pay any attention and therefore could not possibly remember the entire French alphabet.