Chapter 160 So Much to Learn
Six years later…
“Your child is tormenting poor Sophie,” Sylvia complained, “Haven’t you taught her any rules of proper behaviour?”
“These things take time to learn,” Emily said, looking over at her five-year-old daughter, Amanda Danzi Pomeroy, usually called Mandy for short, lavishing too much attention on the cat. Clearly, the animal wanted to be left alone as it started clawing and biting at the girl’s hand.
“She’s biting me!” Mandy said, very amused.
“Mandy dear, that means she doesn’t want you to pet her anymore,” Emily said.
“But I like petting the kitty!” Mandy pouted. Like most kids, she could be selfish, but Emily was pretty sure it was a phase that would pass.
Thankfully, the kid had a curious mind and could easily be distracted. When visiting Sylvia, Emily always came prepared because having her child run rampant was definitely frowned upon here.
“Mandy, what’s this?” Emily said in an excited voice.
“Coloring book!” the girl exclaimed gleefully and ran over to examine it. “Do you have markers?” she asked in a serious tone.
“I will get you some,” Sylvia declared.
Mandy settled down to do some extensive coloring.
“I suppose it’ll be a relief for you when she goes to kindergarten in the fall,” Sylvia said casually.
“Actually, she’s not going to kindergarten,” Emily replied.
“Oh, good. That means she’ll be going to a private boarding school.”
“Uh… not really,” Emily said. It was not going to be easy to break the news, but it had to be done sooner or later. “I’ve decided to unschool her.”
“Unschool?!” Sylvia’s eyes popped wide open. “Is this some kind of new hipster thing?”
“Actually, the idea of unschooling has been around for a while.”
“Why on earth would you want to do something like that?”
“Because schools are based on an outdated system,” Emily said. “I’ve thought about this a lot, and I remembered how bored I had always been in school. It’s not natural for kids to sit inside a classroom for that long. I want Mandy to experience real life, get her outdoors, take her to work with me once in a while. There are so many more things to learn than the five basic school subjects.”
“Like tormenting cats?” Sylvia remarked with her usual sharp tongue.
“That’s the whole point, she’ll learn how to handle cats properly. Maybe you could teach her.”
Emily knew that deep down Sylvia adored her granddaughter, but the older woman could only handle short periods of time with her before the kid tried her patience.
It had been quite bad in Mandy’s toddler years. She really had been a little savage. But now that the child was becoming more of a real person, growing and learning so quickly, Emily hoped that Sylvia and Mandy would find some common ground.
“Let me get this straight, you want me to participate in this New Age nonsense?” Sylvia queried.
“You said Mandy needed to learn rules of behaviour,” Emily replied, “So I have every confidence that you could teach her Etiquette 101: how to be polite with humans and cats.”
“Amanda certainly could use a few lessons on etiquette,” Sylvia muttered.
“Good, then it’s settled. Maybe you could teach her to play the piano too? And anything else you want to teach her, really. As long as it’s something she enjoys.”
“I’ve heard of coddling your child, but don’t you think this is taking it too far?”
“No,” Emily said decisively, “this is actually going to encourage her to learn using her natural sense of curiosity. Most kids start out with genius potential, but it’s dumbed down when they’re put in a one-size-fits-all classroom.”
The sound of a car door closing outside made Mandy look up from her coloring book. “Daddy?” she said, looking alert.
A few moments later, Byron entered, having been delayed by a work meeting.
“Daddy!” the girl cried, rushing towards him.
He lifted her high in the air and spun her around. “Hello, Mandykins!”
Emily had never thought it would be so thrilling to have a child. Every time she saw Byron being fatherly and attentive, her heart melted like ice cream in the summer sun. She had never been that excited about kids, but now she never grew tired of feeling ridiculously in love with her family.
“You’re going to make her dizzy,” Sylvia chimed in.
“I like to be dizzy,” Mandy said, shrieking as she was spun around even more.
Byron came over to Emily to give her a kiss and greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek, even though she looked more morose than usual.
“What do you think about this ‘unschooling’?” Sylvia asked.
“I trust that Emily knows what she’s doing,” he said.
“Don’t you have your own opinion?” Sylvia asked.
“Meh…” he shrugged. “As long as the kid is happy.”
“Personally, I don’t mind teaching her,” Sylvia said, “but you have to be careful of what the media might say about this. It might be considered elitist, disregarding the public school system.”
“Sylvia, it’ll be fine,” Emily declared.
After she left Sylvia’s place, however, she was a little concerned, thinking about whether the media would try to denounce her like they had done in the past. Her experience with Christine taught her that if a journalist was vicious enough, they could pick on anything they considered a failing and paint it in the most hideous colors.
