Damage control

On the way home from art today, Joseph was moaning about how we're going to be doing a singing unit soon.  "What's wrong with singing?" I ask.
"Singing is for girls," he replies with an utterly disgusted tone.
"What?!  Who ever told you that??"
After some digging, it comes out in the open that when he was in public school, he got teased for his high-pitched voice (or at least, what he interpreted as teasing).  He thinks that singing will make him sound like a girl.
Ugh.  That is so frustrating!  I don't know if the kid really was teasing Joseph, or if the simple fact of Joseph's high (utterly adorable) voice being pointed out was enough to make him really self-conscious about it.  Joseph is really sensitive and it doesn't take much to push him over the edge like that.  But whatever, it's so sad that this has apparently turned him off of singing.
It has been a mystery to me why he's been such a pill about singing with the primary kids in Sacrament Meeting over the past couple of years.  I guess now I know why.
When we got home, I got on Youtube and tried to find a bunch of videos from male American Idol contestants from the past few years.  I told him that if you are a successful male singer, you are probably RICH, FAMOUS, POPULAR, and definitely not girly.
I'm not sure he bought it.  I guess at least I don't have to worry about having a son obsessed with becoming a rock star?  :-)
He also told me that he was teased for wearing his CTR (Choose The Right) ring when he was in school.  Another little girl in his class, (one of I think 5 LDS kids in the school, including my 2), also wore a CTR ring, and Joseph got teased by Andy (he still remembers his name 3 years later) about being "married" to her because they wore matching rings.  That was the last time he ever wore his CTR ring.
I really wish I had just been brave and started homeschooling them from the very beginning, never even bothering with the whole public school thing.  They were only in school for 2 years and I'm still having to do damage control.