Racial Comments at 5 years of age?? Really??

[MomToOneOfEach]

Yes I am going to write and about this and no I am really don't care if some takes offense to it. This is frustrating me right now and maybe I just need to vent.  We as mothers should know how to teach are kids what's right and what is wrong, what is acceptable to say and what is not.  If you can't do that then maybe you shouldn't be blessed with children.  I really don't care what color your skin is or what you personally think about someone with a different color skin, no person should ever say racial comments in front of kids that will pick it up or even teach them that this is ok, IT IS NOT!!!!!

 

This is all coming from a situation that transpired a few days ago with my five year old little boy Gage at school.

 

My son came home from school (Pre-K) the other day in tears and so completely upset that he could hardly breath because one of his "friends" called him a Cracker.  He does not understand what that "means" other then exactly that.....a cracker.  I didn't explain this idiotic term to him either.  I also know that more then likely the other little boy probably thought the same thing about the term.  This is probably just something that he has heard within the family somewhere.

 

I knew that at some point in time in my children's life that I would have to deal with stuff like this and explain things if need be.  However I never ever thought that I would be hearing of things like this in a 5 year old class setting.  So I had no idea how to even approach the situation.

 

The teacher and I have spoken about the situation because she was present when it was said.  She has since talked with not just the boys parents but the entire classroom's parents because not only has she heard "Cracker" come from their little mouths but also the "N" word.

 

These kids are learning hatred at an early age these days, geez along with everything else that I was unaware of until I was in at least Middle School (meaning 6-8^th grade).  It seems like we just keep pushing our precious children to grow up way to soon instead of letting them be children and teaching them to get along with everyone.

 

I hope that anyone who reads this and may have something negative to say, never has their little ones come home in tears because one of their friends called them a name.  Then you sit there and think well kids call each other goofy names all the time, only to find out that it was something that has become a racial comment in our society.  It truly is heart breaking to know that little kids have to face things like this all the time.

 

[evwsquared]

May. 27, 2009 at 5:13 PM

Good message. Bumping you up!

[MSugarKane]

May. 27, 2009 at 5:28 PM

What comes out of a child's mouth is what is heard in their home, over and over.  The child probably didn't know it was wrong since the child probably has heard those words his whole life.