The Scene: Soccer on Saturday
The ages: 2nd graders
The What: Pumpkin Pie's soccer team is a typically diverse bunch ... much like our county, right? His team was split in two. On one field, Pumpkin Pie's portion of the team played an uneventful game. On the other side, parents report that a child made a racial comment to another child, something along the lines of "Why are your eyes slanted; are you a Chinaman or something?"
The child making the comment was pulled from the game, parents reported, but only for a short time. Parents on our team were upset that the punishment wasn't more severe and that the child was allowed to return to the game.
We've had much discussion around here this weekend on where such prejudice comes from at the ripe old age of SEVEN! And none of it bodes well for that child's parent.
Anyone out there want to venture into how you would have handled the episode if either 1. this child belonged to you, or 2. you were a parent on either of the soccer teams in question or 3. you were the coach?
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I would want to know more details, such as whether the offending child's parents were there, what was said to the child about why he was pulled from the game, etc. The amount of time he spent out of the game is less important to me than whether or not he truly understood why he was pulled from the game. All too often, adults address racism issues by teaching kids not to talk about it rather than teaching what is painful about what the child has said.
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