Swimming lessons started yesterday, and we couldn't WAIT to get into the pool. The Noodle was very excited and since it was so hot, both J and I were looking forward to it too. She's still in the "parent/child" class, so we were paddling and splashing right along side her. 
As it so happens, her instructor this year happens to be Asian. When she got home and cleaned up, she was playing with some Mahjong tiles that were sitting out. She turned to J and said "My swimming teacher is Mahjong." J stopped for a moment and said "That's right, your swimming teacher is Asian. We say that people from China, Korea or Japan (those are the 3 she's most familiar with since that is where Papa travels) are Asian". She then went happily back to clicking and stacking the tiles. What is so interesting to me, is that this is the first time that she has verbalized or indicated that she picks up on cultural/ethnic differences in people. She loves to notice things that are Chinese (i.e. Chinese characters, music, icons of China--Great Wall, etc.) but until this point, hadn't really figured out that someone from Asian descent has a different "look" than someone who is Caucasian. I remember from my child development classes that it is around 3-4 that children will begin to recognize differences in facial features, skin tones, etc. Just another sign that she's growing up, I guess.
1 comment:
Good way to keep cool!
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