Indians

I love how my children think. For instance: We walk Cali the puppy and play with whoever is out almost every evening. Yesterday, we were at the park and Ali noticed some things that were different about a nice Indian mom and her kids. Ali asked the mom about the "red dot" on her forehead and why they talk funny. Her questions were innocent and valid and I suppressed the urge to shush her and instead told her we'd talk about it on the way home. So on the way home I tried to explain culture and different languages by drawing similarities between the people at the park and someone familiar - Dora the Explorer.

Mom: Does Dora talk funny sometimes?
Ali: Yes.
Mom: Why? What is different?
Ali: She speaks Spanish!
Mom: Right! And where is Dora from that they speak Spanish?
Ali: Cartoon Network?

So it all went downhill from there. After I explained that Dora is from Mexico (where they speak Spanish), Ali deduced that the Indian people were speaking Spanish. Then I confused her further by trying to explain that the people at the park were speaking Indian - which Ali associated with Pocahontas. Then I tried to explain the difference between Native Americans and Indians from a really cool country called "India". She wanted to know what was cool about India (of course, because I am soooo good at geography...) All I could think of were elephants and saris. And Mother Teresa. You can't predict the inner workings of that little brain. All I was trying to do was teach a little cultural sensitivity and I think I flopped all over the issue!

Here's an old picture of Mia's first trip down the slide with her sister. They grow so fast!!