And A Little Child Shall Reason

More kid stuff, but it kind of proves my point.

Today I babysat my former boss's two girls. We went to the pool, where we ran across a little black girl who used to come to craft night religiously. She hugged me delightedly, made fast friends with the girls, and they all played in the sandbox. The younger of my boss's daughters has trouble enunciating, and the black girl observed that she "couldn't understand when she talks, but that means you have to listen carefully and not make fun, because you can't make fun of people just because they're different." Three little boys wandered over, and I listened as the children discussed teasing. They compared observations gleaned from parents, animated movies, and the Disney Channel (which, on a side note, is the single worst influence on children today--you should see some of the idiotic and cruel behavior those programs present as "cool"). With all the furrowed brows and measured speech of a U.N. summit, the six children ultimately decided that Being Mean Is Bad, and We Should Be Nice Because Mean Things Hurt Our Feelings, and Hurting Anyone's Feelings Is No Good at All, Though, Unfortunately, Hurt Feelings are Part of Life. After coming to this conclusion, they promptly got into an argument about "your" sand and "our" sand, and looked to me to referee--and were bemused yet pleased with my novel proposition that the sand was there for everybody and they ought to share it.