Monday, March 19, 2012

What a GREAT idea!

As my kids are more than halfway through the 1st grade and think that they are now learning about things that I don't know anything about, it just makes me laugh and intrigues me with the way the think and see things. It's so innocent. They have no idea how they are coming across to people, they don't mean to be malicious or to be condescending and that is what makes them so funny.

The curriculum in 1st grade is so much different than kindergarten. They are learning about real people. Every few days they come home and tell me "mommy do you know so and so and do you know that he/she did this and that?" They purge all this info out to you. It's the sweetest thing to hear...especially from kids that refused to speak early on in their lives. Just recently they finished their unit on Black History Month. They learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. The kids would come home and inform me "mom! we're learning about Black History Month" and I said "Great! you guys are gonna love it!" Now understand that my kids refer to everyone as "that man, girl, lady, or boy." So one day they came home with a cut out of Martin Luther King, Jr, it was 24 inches tall. Madison's was wearing a black suit and purple tie. Purple is her favorite color. So I asked her who is this? She informs me "it's that boy, Mardin Luder King, Jr!" A few days later the kids were discussing something and I couldn't understand what they were saying so I asked them how school was and what they did. They replied "good. Mom, you know that girl?" I answered, "nope! which girl?" Tyler answered "you know, that girl on the bus?" and I knew already that they were speaking of Rosa Parks. So I said "No, which girl? What happened?" So Madi finished, "the girl on the bus and she wasn't "apposed"(she has trouble pronouncing suppose) to sit in the front of the bus and the police arrested her. She has to sit in the back. Do you know that black and brown people are the same thing?" So I replied "yes i know her. Her name was Rosa Parks. And a long time ago that's how people who were not white were treated and it was not right was it?"

For my kids they are brown people vs. black people. They get confused when they hear people being called black people because for them they are brown not black. One day they will understand I suppose. Just like they will continue to learn more about "the girl on the bus."

I was watching "The Help" this weekend and my kids wandered in and read the title. Intrigued the hung around...I thought it would be ok since they have been exposed to Rosa Parks and being arrested. I've also never been one to hide reality. Plus being Asian and being in a very diverse community at school I think it's important for kids even at a young age to understand what inclusion truly means that there is no room for discrimation. I would like to preclude this with remember my kids calls everyone a boy, girl, lady, or man. For example, a chef is a "cooker boy." So in the beginning of the movie we still haven't settled so there was still a lot of talking and I know the kids haven't heard anything the narrator was saying because I know I didn't and of course they had no clue that this was a movie where there was still segregation or what that was. On the screen was a maid taking care of a baby and the mother came in and barked out some orders. Tyler screams out "Hey! We should get a helper girl too! That way mom if you need help you don't have to bother me then she can help you and I can still play games!"

My son the genius. I just hope he doesn't say that at school and find out that some of his friends actually DO have "helper girls" and ask for one for his birthday! That is not the same as getting him a beyblade or a lego kit! It's all so innocent. No malicious intent. Just looking out for his momma...and for his own convenience!