Btw, do you (all) actually find it to be true that it's more socially acceptable to announce sporting achievements than academic ones? Thinking about the communities I'm in, I don't think that's actually true, as such. I think what is true is that in many sports there are a lot more opportunities for children to share their enthusiasm in a way which is social and not individually competitive - and then it's socially OK to talk about your child having enjoyed such a thing. E.g. I think in my circles these would be fine:
"DS is really enjoying the football club at the moment" [assuming the football club is team oriented and not too good!]
"DD has joined the choir and loves it" [provided the choir doesn't have a famously tough audition to get in!]
while these would be dodgy:
"DD had a great time at the swimming gala" [sounds as though you're trying to set up a boast about how she won gold; you might get away with it if you continue "even though she came last in every race"!]
"DS did 100 pressups last night at home" [to some people, especially those with little knowledge of DS or pressups, this will sound like a request for "Wow".]
Now, if your child's enthusiasm is for maths, say, equivalents of the second group are easy to come by, but equivalents of the first group are pretty rare. Thinking about true things I could say about my DS, in the first group I can only think of
"DS is loving the school maths puzzle club this term" [I think this is OK, although there are people so insecure about maths that any positive mention of it seems like bragging]
"DS is really looking forward to the Science Festival" [see, it only happens once a year, so I have to put it that way; scraping the barrel here!]
whereas the second group contains a bunch of things I'll say, but only to my friends, or here, because they involve things he's done individually at home, or things that had an element of individual competition.
So you end up with fewer acceptable things you can say, but I don't think it's directly because of different acceptability of brags in the two areas; rather, it's because of the social normality or otherwise of getting together to do the two kinds of thing for fun.
Does that sound right to anyone, or are the really differences e.g. between US and UK conventions here?
Last edited by ColinsMum; 02/10/12 10:35 AM.
