He pondered a bit and I could see another question forming: “but you are white….and she is black?”
It’s not unusual for me to get this question as a mom to 5 children, 3 of whom are of a different race.
I went on to explain to him that we can be a family without our skin tones matching.
That there are all different kinds of families and ours looked like this.
And once again I saw more questions bubbling up as I explained about our family.
“Why is she in a wheelchair?”
“Was she born like that?”
“Can she talk?”
I patiently answered all the questions while I saw the little boy’s dad look at me and his face was red from embarrassment.
Between the questions about race and the questions about disability, the dad thought his son had crossed too many lines.
Finally, the questions stopped and the kids went on to play with the waiting room toys.
His dad told me how sorry he was for all the questions.
I only had one reply: “It’s ok, I am glad he asked those questions. Really, it’s OK.
I would rather have him ask and then play with her, than to walk away and ignore her”.