This morning, Faith told me that Michael Jackson has black hair and that his skin is black and that she is flesh coloured.
Where to even start.
I hate, hate, hate that ‘flesh’ is still/even considered a colour. I have no idea where Faith got the concept from, I spoke to her teachers at school and they said they haven’t taught it to the kids, they speak about pink, peach, chocolate and brown.
I tried to explain to Faith that flesh is not actually a colour, that it is the word we use for {skin, muscle and sinews} in our body. I told her that Michael Jackson is actually brown (yes, I know, a totally different discussion) and that she was pink. I said that I am also pink and that Aletta, our nanny is brown like Michael Jackson.
She seemed to understand although I think I will have to keep reinforcing the concept.
I never had this issue with Aaron. When he was little he spoke about people’s colour in terms of the clothes they were wearing, for example, the man wearing a blue t-shirt was a blue man, the lady in the pink dress was a pink lady, the kid in the purple shirt was a purple kid. I still have never had a skin colour conversation with him actually.
Has this ever been an issue with your kids? How did you deal with it?
Shae has also recently started asking how the little brown girl at dancing classes can have peach parents . The kid is adopted. I have to admit i was completely struck dumb, which is totally unusual for me!