Carol and I have never talked to Lydia about the Presidential campaign. Yet, because she's been exposed to it from TV or her friends or whatnot, she knows that John McCain and Barack Obama are running for President. (She thinks that Hillary Clinton is still running, and I haven't been able to dissuade her of that fact; I KNEW the primary season ran too long.)
Not only does she know this, but she can identify the three of them by sight, although she does sometimes confuse McCain with other gentlemen near his vintage, including Joe Biden.
She doesn't know Sarah Palin, but I've heard her say to her stuffed animals/sisters, "I'm going to be governor of Alaska." I have no idea what THAT'S about.
But there is one big disappointment: she supports McCain. I don't know if it's his avuncular look or what, but she's glommed onto the GOP candidate. Just one more reason not to lower the age of voting to four years old.
I realize that we haven't really talked to her about race. It was important for us to go to a mixed race church and for her to attend a mixed race day care, but we never talked about it overtly. I realized this when she referred to a woman in our church as a lady with "brown hair and brown skin." (Which is why I've always had a difficult time believing that people don't see race; it may not be important to them, but if a four-and-a-half year old picks up on it, as a matter of fact, then I suspect a universality to it.)
ROG
3 comments:
The race issue isn't so big a subject in Rayleigh.
However I raised the matter with my own offspring after watching Doctor Doolittle:
"You see that actor there - Eddie Murphy - is black, don't you....."
Oh kids are very much aware of differences it's just that they are more honest about it amongst themselves.
Well, being aware of differences in skin tone does not automatically mean it's an identification of race, does it, any more than tall or short, slim or heavy. "Race" is one of those loaded distinctions imposed on a descriptive element, I'd say.
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