Histoires de Pouatches / Etiquette(s)

In the beginning, the world was inhabited by Pouatches. What’s a Pouatche? Imagine whatever you like… a splash of gouache, or perhaps you or me. The Pouatches are all identical. But one day, one of them finds a label with the word ‘Delicate’ written on it. From then on, he becomes exactly what it says: very fragile. The others, jealous, want that label too. They react angrily. They turn into ‘balls of rage’. Very quickly, chaos ensues! We realise that these labels are given by the adult Pouatches, particularly Miss Nathalie: ‘the shy one, the daydreamer, the rascal, the Calisson…’. Not all of them are pleasant to bear! How can we get rid of them? 

WHY TALK ABOUT LABELS WITH CHILDREN?

Talking about labels means talking about our need to categorise and pigeonhole others into boxes that fit us. It means talking about our need to reassure ourselves, to simplify, to reduce the world to definitions. Because behind the label we’ve stuck on – and often stuck on very firmly – lies a certainty. A lack of curiosity. Talking about labels is important because they always have consequences. Talking about labels also means observing what we accept and what we impose on ourselves. Am I merely what my label says? Living up to the image others expect of us can be comforting, but often, a label stuck on a person traps them in a single interpretation of themselves. Q