So today we were at the playground and a Caucasian girl walks up to Alex and says, "Why are your eyes so small?"
Alex looked at her and said, "What?"
"Why are your eyes so small?"
Alex: "They're NOT."
Girl: "Well, why are they...like...(pointing to the corners of her own eyes, searching for words)...that?"
Alex walked away and came over to me and said, "Mom, that girl doesn't know ANYTHING."
Boy, did she hit the nail on the head there. I mostly love living in Utah, but sometimes it is frustrating that kids of this age seem never to have encountered a person of another race before? Come on!
We had a more in depth talk about this afterward, and Alex seemed OK, but I did see in her face at the time the confusion and hurt of feeling singled out and made to feel, well, different. I feel so inadequate as a parent to guide her through these moments. Pray for us as school starts in a few weeks...Alex has been showing more signs of anxiety lately. And I don't think this little experience today was very helpful. Sigh.
1 comment:
Bummer. That's got to be frustrating as a parent. Kids always find something different about each other to single out, don't they? And it's harder when you look different somehow :(. I'm glad my kids know your kids and Anexora and Celia's kids at the day care, as well as Nayra and others of different races. They don't seem to notice too much because of that :). Hang in there...there are plenty of kids around that will love Alex for who she is :).
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