Filling out forms when you've got kids is hardly unusual or exciting.
But a Mum in the US was surprised when she was asked on a school registration form to state whether she had a vaginal or cesarean birth.
My daughter is only 18 months old, so I have yet to encounter the joy of school forms (of which, I can imagine, there are many), but I can't imagine how birthing methods would be relevant in this particular instance.
"This question is especially intrusive and irrelevant," Cara Paiuk wrote in
The New York Times. "It reminded me of some awful blind date asking if the carpet matched the drapes. My vagina was not up for discussion by a stranger then, and it’s certainly not up for public examination now."
Keen to know why this information was needed, she asked the school's head nurse, who responded that if a teacher or an administrator saw an issue with a child ("presumably, a learning disability or behavioral problem," according to Cara), they could look at the child's form for any clues that might explain the cause.
Cara went on to acknowledge that "type of birth" is one of the most common questions to ask on a form but suggested "not on a kindergarten application". Good point.
"Unless evidence-based medicine or pedagogy shows the type of birth to be valuable for assessing a child's current health, ability to learn, or safety, or whether it poses a medical or security risk to others, why should I respond?" she asked.
