Ohhhh Emma

My youngest Emma is like a sponge! Last year, in Kindergarten Emma's teacher attempted to educate the kids during Black History month. I have to say that Emma has taken the topic very seriously. I am surprised at such a young age she has taken such an interest in the topic. On several occasions though this topic will often come up as some of the oddest times. They are humerous, not beause of the topic but the way they come up and the situations themselves. I have been told that I need to write them down. We had another "episode" this weekend, which made me chuckle on the inside so I thought it was time to chronicle this for her.
Last year, while in the kitchen my 5 year old comes up to me and says "mom, let's play slave". My curiosity made me responded calmly with a "how do you play that?". "You know, I will be the black person and you be the white person, and when you get mad at me, you send me outside to pick cotton."

I was caught so off guard. Where the heck did this come from? I tried really hard to hold it inside.

A few days later, I was for what felt like the 10th time, asking the girls to pick up toys downstairs. Emma, somped in front of me and says "why do you treat me like I am the black person and you are the white person?"......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. What is so hard about these comments is they are not meant to be harmful and they are not terribly out of context, but they come at the oddest times.

A few weeks later it was parent teacher conference time. Wheww. After we finished talking about Emma's social and academic performance, it was time to bring up the subject of Black History month.
I told her of Emma's comment about wanting to "play slave", I said "it may be a good idea to put a little more emphasis on the negative part of this period in time". We both got a good little chuckle.

So here we are 1 year later. Besides the occasional "he is a famous Black American" everytime she hears Tiger Wood's name, we have been relatively comment free....until this weekend.

Emma's oldest sister decided that he didn't want to share with her sister. Something so silly as hair bands became a major issue and an opportunity to teach them both about sharing and hurt feelings.
While in the car, We talked about how it made Madi feel that she could not "share" the viewing of Emma's DS, and how Emma might have felt with Madi declared that Emma was not to use her hair bands. Emma pipes in....

"now I know how the black people felt when the white people wouldn't share with them." Emma so profoundly exclaims.

Huge sigh from Mom, Emma I am sure it is not exactly the same but I see what you are saying.

Ahhh Febuary. Each year you supply my daughter with more metaphor material.

Emma is not just funny, she is hilarious!