I recently visited my six year old son’s nursery, to listen to the children playing and to chat to my son’s teachers. The nursery invites all the parents to come in for a visit one by one.
My son was very excited about my visit.
“Be strong, Daddy,” he told me.
“Why do you want me to be strong?” I asked.
“Because I told everyone that my Daddy is so strong,” he said. “So, if you are not strong, they will call me a liar.”
I hope I looked strong enough. I didn’t perform any impressive feats of strength. I just sat at the side of the class, shook the hands of a few children who came up to me, and said “Hello” or “Good morning” to a few of his classmates who take English lessons.
My son’s classmates were interested in comparing the shade of my son’s skin to mine. They were convinced that my skin was a little whiter.
That seemed to worry my son a little. Later he asked me, “Daddy, if I go to Scotland, will my skin become whiter?”
It is quite awkward to answer a child’s innocently asked questions about skin colour. It made me wonder if I would have to worry about my son encountering racism if we ever did go to live in Scotland. Or maybe he will have problems in Japan for having a foreign parent. I told him that light and dark skin tones were both beautiful, and I would be happy whether he had dark or light skin.
My son’s elementary school backpack arrived
in the post recently. Today he is going
on a visit to the elementary school he will join next year. I hope we are both strong enough for the
challenges ahead.
Vocabulary:
a feat – an achievement that requires great
skill, courage, or strength (eg., “The Forth Bridge is an impressive feat of
engineering.”)
the shade of something – how light or dark
something is
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