The kids were getting ready for their nap and my hubby handed Princess a doll to cuddle with, as she normally does at bed time. “I don’t like Chinese!” Princess said as she threw the doll across the room.
“That’s not nice. Where did you hear that from?” I heard my hubby say from the other room.
I immediately went into her bedroom to find out what was going on and he recapped what happened.
I was furious! “That’s not okay. Why don’t you like Chinese,” I asked.
“I just don’t,” she responded with a smile.
Clearly, she thought this was all a joke and we’d just carry on as if she didn’t just make a racist remark.
“You do know that we have Chinese in our family. Why do you think that’s okay?” I asked.
She shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know.”
“What if someone said they didn’t like you because you’re black and white?” I asked.
She look at me and responded, “Does this mean I’m not getting ice cream?”
At this point I wanted to bang my head against the wall. She wasn’t taking her actions and our conversation seriously and quite frankly, it pissed me off. We teach our kids to appreciate and respect people, no matter their skin color.
My husband and I pressed on. We needed to get to the bottom of this. Ignoring it would only compound the problem.
After further questioning, Princess revealed that two of her friends at school said they didn’t like Chinese. Some may argue that they could have been referring to Chinese food, but the fact that our daughter said it in reference to a doll makes us feel otherwise.
Unfortunately, the girls who said it must have heard it from somewhere and it makes me angry that children are being taught to hate at such a young age. There may even come a time when Princess may hear, “I don’t like black people.”
I don’t want our kids going through life thinking it’s okay to discriminate against anyone. We certainly don’t want her hanging around racist people either.
For the record, Princess did not get any ice cream. She’s also required to have that doll by her side until further notice. When she wakes up from her nap she has to write “I love Chinese” until we say stop.
Has your child ever said she/he didn’t like a certain group of people? How did you handle it?