Race Card?

There comes a time in every parent's life when s/he realizes that his/her child realizes that people are different.  It's natural.  We all do it. Compare/contrast and all that jazz. But children notice things that we are embarrassed to talk about. It's not polite conversation.  You don't point out that someone's skin color is not that same as yours.  When William first described one of his teachers as the one "with the brown skin" Ben and I were nervous.  Reminded us of a Seinfeld episode.  "Should we be talking about this?  I don't think we should be talking about this."  But, when you really THINK about it, it's weird that it's weird.  People are different.  So what?  Makes life interesting.  Makes life diverse.  And pretending that you don't notice that someone looks different than you is a little strange.

Nevertheless, it's not something that's easy to broach.  So I didn't know what to think when the following transpired.

William was sitting on the couch, leaning against the arm and playing with my iPad.  Some drawing app.

White is a race and a color.

What the what? My heart skipped a beat.  What does a five year old know about race?  Who would be talking to him about that, anyway?  I took a breath and tried not to jump to conclusions.

Tell me again what you said?

White is a race AND a color.

Okay.  I didn't misunderstand.  Where do I go from here?  I channeled my very limited background in early education.  Ask questions.  Don't assume you know what a child is thinking.  Even though it was DEFINITELY obvious.  I heard it twice.

What do you mean by that?

Well, it's a 'erase' because you can erase with it, but it's also a color.

Yes.  Yes, it is.