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?