3 year old racist?

Life with kids is never dull, never boring. Just when you think you have everything down and life's road ahead looks straight and smooth, you fly over a speed bump.

Aislynn's two teachers and the director had to talk to us about our sweet little Aislynn. She was "reported". Yes, reported. Parents of a little girl came in to complain about my 3 year old. Now, sometimes she doesn't listen and there was ONE hiting incident that never happened again. But this was a reality check kind of report. The parents complained that Aislynn wouldn't play with their daughter because she was black.

Everyone knows that kids say what's on their mind (I have another story about that later), but I'm pretty shocked that my daughter would make such a bold statement on her own. She's 3! According to Aislynn, she did "say 'black' to (insert name here)". But what does that really mean? Do I really believe that my 3 year old daughter answered this other little girl with the statement, "I don't want to play with you because you are black!"? I'm not sure. She has another little friend that is black. She has friends that are all different races; that's what I love about it out here. The different cultures and people that make you realize and understand what a small part of the world you really are.

I had to work late, so I wasn't able to sit down and really talk to her about this. I asked her if she was friends with this little girl. She said yes. I told her how special it was that we were all made to be different: our eye colors, hair color, body shape, and skin color. She looked at me and said, "am I in trouble for saying 'black' to (insert name)?" Reality - she's 3. She wasn't calling her "black". She was stating a fact. Just like the time that Tyler referred to his best friend at school "his brown friend". Kids are honest and him and Aislynn were stating a difference. Now that I sit here and write this out, I realize that stating a difference isn't in line for a punishment. This is the time when the parents need to come out of the bat cave after the distress beacon is alarmed. A perfect situation for parenting. These are the opportunities that we as parents are going to stumble upon that will make or break how your offspring is going to live and thrive in society.

I looked at Aislynn and I didn't have any words. She's 3.

It made me think of the other parents and what they are saying to their little girl. "Run and tell us when someone says your different!"
"The world is wrong! You're not different!"
"That cracker will never hurt you again!"

Okay, I know. Overboard. I'll never know what really happened between Aislynn and this kid. I just think that if you make the choice to overreact as a parent and rush to point fingers, you'll set your child and yourself up for failure. Life is such a learning experience that I wish had Cliff Notes. Kids say what they think, and stating a fact is not crime. Not when you are 3.