The Way Kids See It

Look at yourself.

 The outside.

The inside. 

The parent you are.  The friend, the spouse, the daughter, the son, the sister, the brother. 

Do you like what you see? 

My son is in 5th grade. Despite the fact that he goes to a relatively small school, it consists of a considerably diverse (both cultural and religious) student body. Sometimes when I am lucky enough to get to pick him up from school, I watch all the children play. 

One day this week I watched. What I witnessed was nothing short of beautiful. 

What if... 

What if the media never focused on people being skinny or fat or ugly or pretty. 

What if, instead, you had no reason to believe anything other than YOU are perfect. Your height, your weight, your skin color, your hair color...are all exactly how they are meant to be? 

What if you knew you could have different beliefs without being judged? If your religion or political stance or sexual preference were all just part of what made you...YOU...and that was okay? 

What if other moms/parents/people were indifferent to whether you had a career or stayed home or breast fed or bottle fed or spanked or didn't spank or fed your family organic or went out to eat 5 nights a week? 

What if they parented completely different than you...but would be your friend anyway? 

What if when making friends, you didn't give a second thought to what kind of clothes you wore or how much money was in your bank account? 

These things...they are all true for children. Until they are taught otherwise, that is. Children see people for who they are on the inside. 

Until we teach them not to.