Now Here's the Way To Do It

Sometimes you can learn a lot from a four-year-old.

We are blessed to live in a very diverse neighborhood and have a fabulous set of neighbors in this diversity, as you've heard me brag about before.

O was at the playground this morning and was telling me that he was playing with a girl. I asked him what she looked like, to see if I could recall meeting her before.

He described her not as blonde but her hair was a "coffee" color. He always defaults to flavors when describing people. I think this is so great. (I've mentioned he has a food/cooking thing.)

People are "vanilla", "chocolate", even "coffee". It's just how they look and how to describe them to someone else. Clearly that's the only reason he even uses terms to differentiate. There's no reason to, otherwise.

So I encourage his flavor-descriptions. So does J, my nanny, who is a different "flavor" than me.

Is this the "right" way to handle it? I don't know. We're just doing our best, trying to teach him (and ultimately G) that all people are the same. They're people. They might look different but that's about it.

Next time you need to describe someone...maybe use a flavor, and see how it feels.