«Is that allowed?» – The case of the penis warmers in the classroom

Passionata – Music lessons make all the difference

I recently watched the documentary *Drum singi grad drum*, a moving portrait of the Graubünden singer-songwriter Walter Lietha. The artist was well-known in the 1970s, but was censored for his political views, bringing his career to an end. On the big screen, the 75-year-old exudes a sense of light-heartedness, and the film shows that Walter Lietha is a free spirit.

His first album was called *I bin a Vogel*; his second-hand bookshop, which houses countless historical treasures, is known as the *Narrenschiff*. He always followed his passions, unbound by the constraints of social or musical conventions. When asked how his lyrics came about, Walter Lietha replied: “They just flow out of me.”    

Creativity is the foundation for problem-solving skills, innovative thinking and mental health.

I was sitting in the cinema and thought: «He would be a great role model for my children in their early music education.’    

Creativity needs space

Because the greatest moments in my day-to-day work aren't the ones where everything goes «smoothly», but those where the children take their own ideas and turn them into something wonderful: a dance, a song or a musical experiment. You can't plan these moments – but you have to give them space.

Once, a class asked me how old I was. «44,» I said. One girl looked taken aback: «But you're older than my big sister!» The boy next to her widened his eyes and asked in disbelief: «Is that allowed?» At first I didn't understand what he meant. Then I realised that a few of the children hadn't yet realised that I'm a grown woman.

«Are you the same age as my parents?»

We'd just built a landscape out of scarves and were playing music and dancing in it. To him, this wasn't the adult world. «So you're like my parents?» the boy asked. «And you're still allowed to do all that?» Then his face lit up.  

Tests and marks require the right answer at the right moment – not the attempt, not the detour, not the unexpected idea.

Over twenty years ago, education expert Ken Robinson highlighted how schools can systematically stifle creativity: by neglecting physical forms of expression, focusing on right and wrong, and prioritising assessment over the process itself. Today, the research community is in agreement: creativity is the foundation for problem-solving skills, innovative thinking and mental health.

Fragile diversity in everyday school life

At our school, I see how teachers create space for projects without set answers, for theatre trips, and for ideas that go beyond the learning objectives. Diversity isn't just a buzzword; it's put into practice.

And yet it remains fragile. Standardised tests and grades continue to dominate everyday school life. They demand the right answer at the right moment – not the attempt, not the detour, not the unexpected idea. «Is that allowed?» often remains the unspoken boundary between the conventional and the unconventional.

Censored cock warmers

I recently saw just how quickly that can happen in the «Tail Warmer Affair». I told my Year 2 pupils about a book in which a tomcat made tail warmers. The children had a good laugh and were immediately raring to go to make up their own story.

An hour later, we not only had the plot for a whole play, but also a song promoting the sale of tail warmers, complete with a dance routine, performed in the market square. The new Cats musical was born.

The craft teacher suggested sewing tail warmers with the children, but when she showed the prototype in the staff room, the reaction was one of dismay: too risqué, too suggestive, too embarrassing in front of older siblings. It was decided to turn the tail warmers into paw warmers instead. I was informed of this just before the next rehearsal.

I was annoyed because I saw it as censorship, but I wanted to hear the children's views: «Some people say you'll be laughed at because of it,» I said.  

We've learnt, haven't we: if someone laughs at you, that's their problem.

Lina, a schoolgirl

A flexible solution

Julian, who rarely speaks up, was the first to speak: «But we want them to laugh. «Tail-warmer» is a funny word.» His friend Lina added: «We've learnt that if someone laughs at you, that's the problem of the person who's laughing.» The children didn't learn this lovely phrase from me, but from their class teacher, and they later decided by a vote with him that they would stick with «tail-warmers».

During the last rehearsal, however, I noticed that two of the children playing the narrators no longer delivered the passage containing the word «tail warmer» with the same confidence. If they now feel uncomfortable, we can adapt the text or swap the roles. The children will come up with a creative solution.

Perhaps that is the answer to the question I was asked back then: «Is that allowed?» «Yes, it is. But you can do it differently, too.»