After two years in a very white preschool, I was pleased to find that my daughter's kindergarten class is very diverse, not just black and white, but children of Asian, Mid-Eastern, and Hispanic descent. My daughter has never asked questions about people's appearance before, so I was tongue-tied when she came home yesterday and told me about "the brown boys who keep getting in trouble." How do I explain that that is not an appropriate way to describe people? The intent was certainly not derogatory or malicious; to her it's the same as saying, " the girl with curly orange hair" or "the tall boy." The best advice I could muster was to learn their names so she can refer to them by name. What is the PC lesson here?
Please note that I am talking about a 5 year old. The intent of this question is not to incite the next civil rights movement. Please refrain from any opinionated or inflamatory answers.
2006-09-14 02:05:03 · 10 answers · asked by l8ybugn 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
They are going to talk about her as the white girl, so it's acceptible for her to talk about them as the brown boys. It's not acceptable to ignore someone's race altogether. My co-workers will describe someones every attribute (beard, tall, gray hair... anything), but they won't mention that he's a black guy. Why not? Teach your kid the names of the races (i.e., Hispanic, black, etc.) and have her use them. Naming a race is not "racism" as the minorities would have you believe. My black secretary regularly describes others as black. It's just a fact, they're black!
2006-09-14 02:10:48 · answer #1 · answered by nido_tr3s 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's OK (and quite cute) that she would say the brown boy as long as you tell her that it wasn't because he's brown that he was getting into trouble. When she says "brown boy in my class", she really IS describing the person she's talking about and hasn't learned his name yet. If after she says that, she's told" Oh, don't call him brown, because that's not nice", as well intentioned as that comment is and as politically correct that it maybe, it sends a loud and clear message to a 5 year old that being brown is a bad thing to be, that's why we shouldn't call someone that. Kids are very litteral and in my opinion, it's best to tell her this:" Because the color of people doesn't matter to good people, but there are some not very smart people who only think of people's color, it's best to learn their name or describe them in another way, so that others don't mistake us for those people who only see people's color, not who they are."
Of course you know your child and best know how to put that in terms that she/he would understand.
How lovely and caring of you to want to do this right. I wish there were more young mom's that cared about their child and his/her world enough to wavt to address these sensitive issues delicately and with dignity.
2006-09-14 09:54:46 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just tell her the proper names to call people of different races.
Black - African American
Asian - Asian
White - Caucasion
Mid-East - Middle Eastern
Mexican, Spanish, etc... - Hispanic
My daughter came home one day looking for a black baby I had bought for her and asked where her ******* baby was!!! I was devastated as my first boyfriend was black, I never say this word! Her daddy was the influence come to find out and by gosh, he was severely reprimanded for this. (He's a redneck idiot whom I am not with anymore)
You're doing the best thing you can do by getting educated on different approaches to teach your daughter the most proper way to address different cultures...most moms wouldn't even allow their child in such a school. Go MOM!
2006-09-14 09:17:16 · answer #3 · answered by Shining Ray of Light 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was going to suggest exactly what you said - have your child learn the kids names. It's not so much the color of our skin but our cultures are different and a trip or two to the library might help share some of those differences which help us to become more well rounded people in the big picture of life.
2006-09-14 09:49:13 · answer #4 · answered by Hebrews 11 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ask her teacher to provide a color photo chart of all of the students in the class with their names. Without going into the race thing see that all of their training process is name driven.
My son's pre-school was excellent at that! As one part of their training they made loops that had the name of each student to take the intertwined loops as a take-home item to reinforce individuals by name - not color! So I as a parent would post these very inventive class projects in my home and occasionally would ask my son who is this (pointing to the ring with a name) and he knew them all.
All take home projects always had the name of the child on them.
So the class continously learned each persons name and the spelling.
2006-09-14 09:19:03 · answer #5 · answered by worriedaboutyou 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think what others have said is good, specifically about teaching her the correct way to say the names, and that it doesn't really matter anyway- we're all the same.
2006-09-14 09:48:50 · answer #6 · answered by Strykar Zee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try to make her understand that people have different colored skin, but underneath we are all the same.
2006-09-14 09:14:53 · answer #7 · answered by Comfortably Numb™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wear high-quality tennis shoes, and run fast.
2006-09-14 09:14:25 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
sounds like you need to put her in a private school fast
2006-09-14 10:02:55 · answer #9 · answered by AFwife 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
tell them that we are all children of god and skin color doesnt matter
2006-09-14 09:07:21 · answer #10 · answered by bri 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋