united colors of kindergarten
as i brought jan to kindergarten this morning, i’ve just realized it has become an international playgroup of sorts. out of the 8 children, only 2 are full german. nastja is born to russian academics, mert is trurkish, and florian is half persian. mia’s mother is an american and that of noah is from eritrea. and jan, of course, is half-pinoy. aside from getting exposed early on to people who, in child-speak, looks a bit different than they do, now and then their tastebuds also gets primed with international cuisine since the parents take turns cooking lunch. lately, we don’t cook lunch anymore as hubby takes care of the finances and that’s deemed to be too much work already, but when were still part of the cooking-wheel, i’d sometimes cook pancit, sopas (macaroni soup), or fish ginataan. and the other parents sometimes prepare something “ethnic” as well. but then, even if it’s just spaghetti, for sure, the russian version would taste a tad bit different to a persian one, right– just like the jollibee spaghetti tasting more pinoy than the mcdo recipe?
at this age, jan does recognize noah’s skin color. he has a book with a photo of an african boy and he insists calling the boy “noah”. he’s quite fond of the boy, actually. noah’s the first kid jan looks for upon arriving in kindergarten and the first name he says when i ask him whom he’s been playing with. oh, and when you see all the kids playing together, the scene is so heart-warming. i wish that tolerance, that lack of prejudice will stay with them all through their lives. am sure even at this early age, they know they are different from each other. but that doesn’t keep them from having fun together. they know how to focus on the important things, like they all have eyes and ears. and that they have equal rights to all the toys around them. that they all get hungry at some point. and that they all get hurt when bitten or pushed. and a thousand other things they have IN COMMON.
sometimes i wish other adults could come, too, and perhaps learn a few things.
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8 Responses to “united colors of kindergarten”
June 24th, 2004 at
Oo nga, dapat yata may “adultgarten” so that we’d probably get reminded of HOW to deal equally with each other no matter what the race. Nice one, hips.
June 24th, 2004 at
Is Jan in Kindergarten already: How heartwarming. I’m very glad to hear you say that you enjoy visiting my blog. Please let’s exchange links.
And here is a poem for Jan that’s been in circulation for a while. I thought it was fitting:
Dear World:
I bequeath to you today, one little boy in a crispy shirt with two blue eyes and happy laugh that ripples all day long and a flash of light blonde hair, that shines in the sunlight when he runs. I trust you’ll treat him well.
He’s slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to his first day at school. Never again will he be completely mine. Prim and proper he’ll wave a young independent hand this morning and say “goodbye”, and walk with little man steps to the classroom. Now, he’ll learn to stand in lines and wait by the alphabet for his name to be called. He’ll learn to tune his ears for the sounds of school bells and deadlines, and he’ll learn to giggle, and gossip, and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way and he’ll learn to be jealous. Now he’ll learn how it is to feel hurt inside, and now he’ll learn how not to cry. No longer will he have time to sit on the front verandah on a hot summer day and watch an ant scurry across a crack in the pavement. No…now he’ll worry about important things like grades and which shirt to wear and whose best friend is whose, and the magic of books and learning.
For five full years now, I’ve been his sage and Santa Claus, pal & playmate, mother and friend. Now he’ll learn to share his worship with his teachers, which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest, greatest woman in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time, he’ll learn what it means to be a ‘member’ of the group, with all it’s privileges and it’s disadvantages too. Today, he’ll learn for the first time that all who smile at him are not his friends, … and me? I’ll stand on the front verandah and watch him start out on the long, lonely journey to becoming a man.
So world…I bequeath to you today, one little boy in a crispy shirt with two blue eyes and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a flash of light blonde hair that shines in the sunlight when he runs. I trust you will treat him well.
June 25th, 2004 at
Hi Ruthie. I wish Bea’s school is that diverse like the kindy kasi dito, prominent pa rin ang “white” rice so Bea’s skin colour stands out (espesh the school she goes to).
She does get asked why her colour is brown or “teased” (I don’t think the teasing is malicious though. It’s more of like she’s called “brown” because they can’t tease her on her built, height, weight or facial features — gets mo?) na “Bea has brown skin” (she sometimes tells me she gets hurt) and asks us how come she’s brown pero we tell her that skin colour doesn’t matter because we’re all equal and that when they get older, they will spend the rest of their days trying to get a tan and she doesn’t have to do anything! bwahahahaha
June 25th, 2004 at
Hi R! I liked this entry. My son PB will be starting his daycare on Monday, kaya naka-relate ako
June 25th, 2004 at
aww, pinayhekmi, you made me feel nervous with that little piece. i’ve a few years to go (jan is barely two, attending what might be the equivalent of a daycare in the US) before jan goes to real school, but your note made me realize to treasure these years when he’s still “mine”. thanks.
June 25th, 2004 at
hello, blog hop lang…
my eldest is also attending kindergarten(wien). iba ibang lahi din sila. but the sad thing is that, whenever pure Austrians inquire about this particular kindergarten, ayaw nila kasi iba ibang lahi(the tante told us). that is somehow understandable but degrading.
happy weekend!
June 25th, 2004 at
hi bettyboopNY: i think PB will enjoy the daycare. one thing lang: don’t be surprised if he gets more sickly during the first few months. these kids share everything eh, including germs!
peepai: i don’t understand what’s wrong with iba-ibang lahi. jan’s kindergarten didn’t start out that way, though. it just got diverse the last few months kasi maraming bagong kids. but everyone is quite pleased that we have such a diverse group. imagine the stimulation the kids get from being exposed to such diverse cultures kahit in very small ways lang! those people rejecting your kindergarten don’t know what their kids are missing!
June 25th, 2004 at
cg: naku bea will still face a lot of teasing. you’ll just have to reinforce her self-confidence talaga. ako rin, yan ang worry ko, that jan will have some kind of complex because he’s half-asian. oh well, we’ll cross the bridge when we get there. hihingi ako ng tips sa iyo by then!