What do you do when your young child begins asking questions about someone they see in public who is?

Question

mentally challenged or has an obvious physical deformity?

Answer 1

Hopefully, by the time your child can speak and you are taking them out in public, you have taught him/her:
1) to speak in a quiet tone in public and not a loud voice
2) that pointing, staring or otherwise distinguishing people in public is rude behavior, best left to paparazzi and readers of celebrity magazines.
That being the case, there is no "embarrassment" involved as you are the only one who has heard your child's reasonable question. You can then follow the advice of the excellent answers above and either:
a) deal with it (in your public voice) as davis 9592 suggests
b) say you will explain it later and follow the advice of curiosity cat and get materials that help explain human diversity to your child.

Answer 2

It would depend on the age of the child and the someone they see. I believe that we should not lie- for many reasons- but tell our children the truth about things like this. Mentally and physically "challenged " people are just that...PEOPLE...we are all different and that is what makes us all the same. Depending on what question they ask what I would do Is tell the truth! And by the way ****hot-like-fire**** Why did you not tell us what should be said to not hurt ones feelings ??? Just wandering...

Answer 3

first, remember their age and keep the answers appropriate. if the person has a mental problem u could tell them that some people act differently than most of us because they don't learn as fast or as good as others. if the problem is physical, just tell them that they got hurt as a baby, or that when they were becoming a baby they didn't grow right, or they fell out of their crib when they were tiny babies.

Answer 4

Your child deserves an honest answer. If you explain it to them in a form that they understand such as "Honey, many people are born this way. They are just like you, only, they are lacking a hand, an arm, a leg, etc. Even though they may be a bit different, many can play basketball, and do things just like you can." That's usually enough to satisfy their curiousity.

Answer 5

Give an honest age-appropriate explanation of the problem and gently explain why it is considered rude to stare. Use it as an opportunity to teach your child about human frailty.

Answer 6

this is a really good question in which i hope people take into consideration, my child was born with many problems,
cleft lip/palate
amniotic banding of the hands n feet
missing digits (fingers, toes)
thank you for putting this, now more people will hopefully think to have conversations with their lil ones to help prevent rude comments n uncomfortable situations...

Answer 7

There is an awesome free CD you can get from the Disability, Business, and Technical Assistance Center that is for that purpose.

Answer 8

I tell them that God as just made some people like that, but they are not different from us and that we should pray for their ease and comfort in this life and the hereafter.

But...I LOVE what Caly925 tells her kids. That's what I'm going to say from now on with what i tell them now.

Answer 9

you be honest with them and explain that we are all the same but some of us have other challenges. teach them not to be afraid of people who are different. teach thme to not stare. it is very uncomfortable for the person who is different.

Answer 10

Oh, with six kids, you know it's happened to me. I squat down to their level for two reasons: first it keeps their eyes on me, second, I can keep my voice low enough for only them to hear. Then I ask them: what is it you want to know. They reask and I answar. Done.