In "Raymond's Run", why would Squeaky's mother want Squeaky to be in the May Day program?

Squeaky’s mother wants her to run in the May Day race because all little girls do it.

Squeaky’s interest in May Day is purely athletic.  She wants to run in the May Day races.  Running is her life.  She runs the race every year, and she expects to win.  Squeaky works hard, training for the race daily.  Her mother is mostly embarrassed by this unladylike behavior.

I’ll high-prance down 34th Street like a rodeo pony...

Squeaky’s mother wants her to run in the May Day race because all little girls do it.

Squeaky’s interest in May Day is purely athletic.  She wants to run in the May Day races.  Running is her life.  She runs the race every year, and she expects to win.  Squeaky works hard, training for the race daily.  Her mother is mostly embarrassed by this unladylike behavior.

I’ll high-prance down 34th Street like a rodeo pony to keep my knees strong even if it does get my mother uptight so that she walks ahead like she’s not with me, don’t know me, is all by herself on a shopping trip, and I am somebody else’s crazy child.

Squeaky feels that her mother wants to make her into something she is not, by forcing her to be a girl.  Squeaky has her own way of being a girl.  She doesn’t understand why her mother wants her to participate in the Maypole dance, and her mother can’t understand why she doesn’t want to.

The biggest thing on the program is the May Pole dancing, which I can do without, thank you, even if my mother thinks it’s a shame I don’t take part and act like a girl for a change.

Running is more important to Squeaky because it involves winning, and Squeaky likes to win.  She has trouble getting along with the other girls, because she feels that they are insincere.  The end result is that she is often all alone, except for taking care of her brother.

Mothers and daughters often have trouble seeing eye to eye.  A mother may wish that her daughter be something that she is not, while a daughter just wishes that her mother accepted who she was.  Eventually, Squeaky comes to terms with her true self, and even makes a friend.