Fil-Chi Toes

When there’s nothing to watch on TV, I tune into the World Vision Infomercial. It is a good way of teaching the kids how to appreciate what they have - a lot of, so little of, or the lack thereof.  That there's a bigger world out there.  And that life is not all about them.

Stefan:  Mommy, if we have nothing to eat, will my skin turn brown like that?

Mom:  No, Stefan.  That’s in Africa.  They are brown-skinned.

Sometimes the simplest questions are the toughest to answer. Even if we live in a city populated with immigrants, I try to be as non-racial as I can in addressing his curiosities. He had on some occasions asked why this friend’s skin is dark.  I answered with restraint.  They should not matter at all. I don’t encourage him to label people according to race or colour...

 

Or genes.  Apparently he does have a few classmates with diagnoses. “The teachers always assist Erika because she’s smaller,” he’d say.  Or, “ Jackson hit me with a skipping rope because he wasn’t having a good day.”  That’s all he knows.

 

And I'll leave it at that.  For now. 

 

On a lighter note, he names his toes - Chinese and Filipino.  He'll apply pressure to his toes and say, "my Chinese toes became Filipino!"

L.O.L.