Mother Shares Worry About Daughter’s Experience Being Discriminated In Playground
Are we teaching our children casual racism by making careless remarks in their presence? In a series of IG stories that was posted on Facebook, a mother explains how her 19 month old child had her first encounter with discrimination.
The post has since gone viral with over 1.6k shares and 219 comments. In her rants, Rizwana Begum explained what happened while she and her child was at the playground.
She went on to elaborate on why the two older Chinese girls caught the attention of her daughter.
This is when the problem starts. It is a familiar situation that a lot of us as minorities may have went through as children at the playground.
As a mother, Rizwana felt the impact of the words said to her daughter because the poor child did nothing to incite such hostility from two other children who doesn’t even realize that their words can be damaging.
Rizwana took it upon herself to educate the two girls in a firm yet gentle way. It was probably the first time the two girls were reprimanded for their actions judging by how they were shocked.
Casual racism and discriminatory remarks are often exchanged in friendly banter between adults in the presence of children. It should not be normalized as children are always listening, observing and copying our actions because that is how they learn.
Rizwana said that she was around to speak up for her daughter but what happens the next time it happens to any other children of minority groups? She goes on to appeal to the adults and parents to watch our words around children.
However, she did say that her child has had positive interactions with other Chinese children and their parents. Rizwana appreciates those parents who made the effort to make the playground a safe space for all to play together.
Netizens got into a debate in the comment section and most empathized with the experience the little girl had to go through.
And then there are those who thinks that Rizwana is playing the race card for no reason because “children dislike each other all the time.”
To be frank, you’re one of those probably guilty of perpetuating casual discriminatory remarks and you don’t see the wrong in your actions.
While children are prone to bullying others, such behaviour should be corrected instead of normalized.
Are we going to raise another generation of bullies and self-entitled brats?
Reporter’s Opinions: oH hOw cAn yOu pLaY tHe rAcE cArD? tHeY aRe cHiLdReN, it’s nOrMaL. AiYa, tHiS oNe all cOmMon, I wAs bUllieD toO.
How about, shut the fuck up?
When someone from your own race say that they don’t like you, yes you can call it bullying. But when someone says that same line to a different race, it reeks of unintentional discrimination.
Yes, I say unintentional because children learn from their environment and whether you like it or not, you are an extension of their environment.
As someone who works with children, I have seen how children can be mean and unfortunately discriminatory towards others who are different from them. I’ve had children tell me that they don’t want to play with their Malay/Chinese/Indian friends because
“my mummy/daddy say don’t play with them because they are ________and _________.”
Insert your choice of discriminatory remark:
Dark and weird
Lazy and stupid
Smelly because never bathe.
It’s time we put a stop to this. We need to be more wary of what we say around them. And we should not laugh when children make such remarks because “it’s cute”, we should educate them on why it is wrong.
Racism and discrimination is taught, it is not natural.
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