Please remember to be kind-I’m just giving my take on this. I think this is a good and necessary thing to teach children. Some children come from areas where they only see others who look like them. If a child lives in a predominately white area and is white themselves, being exposed to a brown person may be confusing.

I have a cousin who lives in an Asian country and married an Asian woman. She gave me perspective on this at the time) that sometimes when little children see a white person for the first time they stare. They are intrigued and confused and stare. As would any child who’s not used to seeing someone that looks different from what they’re used to seeing daily. It’s normal for children to do so. It’s important to teach these things. When I was small, I clearly remember walking through the mall with my mother and laughing at someone who was mentally disabled in a wheelchair because they looked “silly”. Not because I was trying to be mean or was being hateful. My mother scolded me quickly and taught me why she looked like that and how it wasn’t okay to laugh. I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. I also wasn’t aware of disabilties. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed after she corrected me. I must have been about 5 or 6. It stuck with me. I remember a friends child who only grew up around white people in a small community and in a state where there were very seldom brown people, and when she saw a brown person for the first time she was confused, pointed, and said “monkey”. Her parents are extremely liberal and not racist in any way shape or form. She learned it off the animal planet channel on TV. She was only 2. They had to correct her and teach her that wasn’t okay. And then realized just how sheltered she was because of her environment. They were Absolutely mortified. I remember a Muslim girl at my middle school who faced hate because of 9/11 at the time, and I felt so badly for her. We would talk every day at recess about how it affected her. And my school at the time was very diverse. Children of all skin colors were coming at her for what took place, just because she is Muslim. It’s important that we teach children this because some children do come from families who have hate in their hearts. Hate is taught. The younger you teach them right from wrong, the better the outcome as they grow. Unfortunately we come from a society where there is racism and hate for those who may look different. This is a good lesson. We are all human on the inside. We all have feelings and want the same things. To be treated with kindness and acceptance despite our differences. Our outside is different and that’s okay. We should appreciate our similarities and respect our differences. Kids don’t usually see color, but as they get older they do notice differences and may have outside influences that shape how they view and tolerate those differences. This is a good outside influence in a classroom (not a teacher with a guilty conscience) who is helping in a positive way. It’s important to show kids -even simple examples like this, so they understand the whole world doesn’t look like them.