Political Correctness for my four year old, We don't want to offend ANYONE!?

Question

Everyone in my house are HUGE Red Sox fans. My daughter (age 2) mentioned to my son that Big Papi was black. My son (age 4) corrected her and informed her he is African-American. My husband and I corrected him and said Papi is Dominican. My son's question was how can you tell? We don't know how to answer him. We only know because it's Big Papi. We taught our son to respect people's heritage and that the outside "color" doesn't matter. He accepts this and isn't worried about the color. He just doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Is there more politically correct and non-hurtful terms to use when you're not positive? Or does someone have an answer I can give him?
Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

You could tell him you know Papi is Dominican because you saw him interviewed or heard it mentioned. Ditch the PC stuff. Teach you kids that the only thing that matters is how we treat people. Not whether they will be offended. You can't live in today's world and not be offended by one thing or another. I dislike foul language but I have to put up with it if I want to see a movie. I dislike the constant barrage of anti-Christian things I hear in the news every day. Someone sticks a crucifix in a jar of urine and calls it piss christ in the name of art. I'm offended!
You, your kids, thier kids and thier kids etc. are all going to be offended at one point or another. It's unavoidable. Besides....what you are not taking into account is.... I have several black friends who do not like being called African-American. One is from Jamaica. The others have nothing in common with Africa as they were born and reared here in the U.S. As far as Africa is concerned...they have no frame of reference. You just offended them!

Answer 2

We are BIG Red Sox fans.....Poor manny and his hurt knee.

Anyways. I have three boys. Black is perfectly fine to say. There is Black History month, Black entertainment Television etc. It is a generic term. People do not get offended when we call them White or Hispanic......

We can get too sensitive if we are overly concerned with these things. If he was saying something horrible like ****$R---THEN you need to be concerned. Lets not make him hyper-sensitive at four years old!

Go Sox! Who's your Papi?

Answer 3

Yeah. for the sake of the kids and everyone around you stop being a Red Sox fan!!!

Seriously, no matter what you do, kids are going to hear stuff from other kids and you'll hear some strange things come out of their mouths when you l east expect it. I would say if you aren't sure just don't say anything. What you say can get you in more trouble than not saying anything. If asked directly, I don't know or I am not sure works fine.

Answer 4

if you know he's dominican call his nationality that. this whole pc thing has gotten way out of control to the point where waiters/waitresses are being cautioned to not to ask if a customer wants their coffee black, just to ask if they want cream and/or sugar. being referred to as black is not racist, nor is referring to someone as white, or mexican or asian.....if the police were looking for a 6 ft., 160 pound man, 30-40 yr. old man, wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt without stating the skin color or color of the shirt who just robbed a store and killed the manager who would you look for....if they said he was a white male then you wouldn't look for a black male, if he were hispanic you'd look there. or if a child was lost and they gave you every description except color you wouldn't know who to look for. as for african american, the image there is a dark skinned person, although many are lighter than dark. it isn't profiling, it common sense as long as its not done in a derogatory way i don't see it as an issue. i always find it ironic though that comedians like 'chapelle' & 'mencina' can get away with the most horrendous of racial slurs about all races and no one calls them on it. i'd say be polite, be considerate and treat everyone with respect and it won't matter if you call them white, black, hispanic or asian just call them nicely.

Answer 5

Personally I think the best way to answer would be to say that he's simply a person. Don't mention his nationality or color, because that's all he is is a person. If asked why his skin color is different maybe point out that everyone has different skin color, even you. If you compare your arms color with their arms color I'm sure you'd find even a slight difference. Point out that no one has the same skin color, even if it's just a slight difference. I believe it was Morgan Freeman who said "Why do we have to point out skin color? Why should I have to introduce you as 'My white friend, John'? why can't you just be 'My friend, John'?".

Answer 6

My daughter is four and is starting to notice differences in people as well.

She calls black people 'black' and white people 'yellow.' I just think that at this age that they are trying to make sense of the world by compartmentalizing everything...including colors of people.

I think their understanding of race at this age is very limited and wouldn't overburden yourself with worry. They are just trying to figure the world out.

Answer 7

If you don't want to use the term 'black', which by the way I have black relatives by marriage who are completely fine with the term, and don't know the actual ethnicity of someone then you could use the term 'dark complected'.

Answer 8

political correctness is disgusting. Just teach your kids to be compassionate. If people are hurt by a mistaken nationality then they should be slapped with a live tuna...

Answer 9

I think you are way over thinking this.. your so trying to not offend someone that your going to end up over doing it and offending someone.. They're toddlers.. let them be.. they're not going to say the perfect things and people are aware of that.. Just relax and enjoy them and stop teaching them every little correct way to say stuff..

Answer 10

I have to agree with the other people that say to let it go....my kids are 4 & 6, and they say stuff that isn't "right" all the time...they're kids, people understand that, if you try to explain heavy things like this to them now, they aren't going to understand....just enjoy them!