Teaching Moments

Well for those wondering, my week has gotten much better. I really do adore my children and never want to take them for granted but I was having a crazy moment and needed to vent. Lucky you!!! :) So anyway....


My kids knew that today was their last day of school before our spring break started so that made them very wild but very focused. Once we got started, they worked so diligently we were done by 11:30! So I took that opportunity to do something that I've needed to do, don't do very often, and haven't had the time to do for awhile.


I colored my hair. Yea, yea....I have grays I need to cover. Oh well. Little man informed me this week that gray hair is a sign of wisdom in India and means you are well respected. Well I don't intend on going to India any time soon and I'm tired of the comments so I colored it. While that in itself isn't very exciting, it did remind me of the last time I colored and I thought I'd share.


I use a dark brown on my hair and the last time I did it was NOVEMBER 2008! Yikes! My hair was about 4-6 inches longer then and much thicker. (I just recently got it cut...4 inches....and massively thinned out). I had to use two bottles of color and had to have my hubby help me so I could get all of it covered. The children of course thought this was very interesting and proceeded to sit on the bathroom counter and watch every moment. Hey we can make good family time out of any situation! :)Well hubby started to notice that he was getting the color on my forehead, my ears, my neck, my back, etc...
and asked me quietly, "Is this going to come off your skin?"
I answered without any thought, "Yeah, eventually."

We heard a gasp and turned to look at little man whose eyes were huge and his mouth hanging open. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Mom, you're turning into a........."



Wait for it......








"A DEMOCRAT!"

I guess with all the hoopla of the current presidential election and the very limited political coverage we watched, in his little 7 year old mind, African American and democrat went hand in hand. And here he was watching this black stuff overtake his moms face and body. It would have been a perfect teaching moment for us as parents to discuss the differences in political parties and how they have nothing to do with your skin color; but we were laughing too hard to say anything and then promptly got on the phone to share with grandparents.


We since have had that discussion but it's a classic moment that will never be forgotten. What's interesting to me is that he wasn't concerned about the skin color but the political origin. We have tried very hard to overcome past generation prejudices and don't make race, social status, etc. even an issue. People are people that are people. They are all made by God our Creator and all deserve His love, mercy and grace and deserve our love as one of God's creations, and as co-inhibitors of this world, that God put on here....together. Anyway, it was obvious that political party needed to be apart of this list too. We may not always agree with the opposing side, but we still treat with respect. So there...cat's out of the bag...we're Republicans. :)

But I guess for now, until the little I got on my face and neck fades, I'll be a democrat.

Ahhhh....kids say the darnedest things!