Watching Kids

I love kids! They are so cute. The daycare I'm at is pretty diverse and I was thinking about that while I was watching my kids play today. They don't even have a clue that people might be different because of their skin color. It reminds me of a couple of years ago I was working with a group of kids, mostly Latino. One of the little Latina girls asks the only white girl in the group if she spoke Spanish. It never occurred to here that she was white and most likely didn't.

It makes me wonder how we end up teaching our kids about the differences. I'm sure not all of it is intentional. And where is the balance between enjoying diversity and judging people based on color. How do we know what is just making educated guesses based on past experiences and judging people?

I was also talking with one of my co-workers about what we think the kids will be like when they grow up. Even with some of the two year olds you can guess what they will be like. Some are really smart, some have great personalities, some are funny. It is even easier with the elementary kids. You can tell which ones will be the popular cheerleader type, which ones will be nerds, the class clowns, the average kids. You can see the leaders, the followers, and the ones who are in their own little world. I always want to see all these kids once they have grown up. I want to see what they are like, I want to see what they have done and all of that. It would be so interesting.