the boy who's skin matches mine

I had a sweet conversation with a mom at school the other day. She is Spanish, her husband is Peruvian, and they have two boys in school, plus a one year old little girl. Jacob only knows Diego from recess, but apparently Diego told his mom the other day that he wanted to invite Jacob to their house to play. He said "Not the blonde Jacob that lives on the corner. The Jacob from school who's skin looks like mine."

I thought it was so sweet. I'm so pleased that even in lily-white Johnson County my son is not alone in his "ethnic-ness".

I told Jacob that Diego said he'd like to invite him over, and Jacob said "I'd LOVE that!"

I even like the mom.

[rainbabies]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

that is so awesome. and sweet. i hope you and the mom hit it off!

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

That is so cute. And a bonus for you too!

[Meenah]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

That is too sweet.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

That's great Jenn - we both know how lily white JoCo really is.

[madeintaiwan]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

I love it. Jasen has become good friends with the other "brown" kid in his class. They are starting to ask if they can get together outside of the school now. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope for our kids in "lily white JoCo."

[Flynn]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

I love it.
Kids are so smart.

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

That's great Jenn - we both know how lily white JoCo really is.

FWIW, SueC was impressed by the level of diversity she saw at our school when she went as Jacob's "special person". It's still predominately white, but she saw more kids of color than she'd expected. And remember, Jacob's class has the diversity trifecta: a little black girl with two mommies!

I have to admit liking it to an extent -- it makes it SUPER easy to find dh at school functions.

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

I have to admit liking it to an extent -- it makes it SUPER easy to find dh at school functions.

Cute, I've never thought about this. I guess mine would be easier to find too.

On Brennan's super-diverse soccer team there are 2 sisters that have 2 mommies.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

Jenn, that is good that he gets some diversity. I'm sure JoCo has gotten better in recent years and as bad as this sounds I'm sure there is more diversity north of I-435.

We were actually having that conversation here with some friends a few weekends ago. One of my girlfriends and her family are from Virginia, the Richmond area, and their son is now 4. He'll be about 8 when they go back and she's concerned about him not having enough diversity exposure here b/c while the asian and african american numbers are steadily increasing here this town is still more then 85% white.

In this day and age you would think it would be something most kids would be exposed to more.

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

Here's part two from an email from Diego's mom:

Diego's story has a second part: last night, when the kids were going to bed, I noticed Diego kept on looking at his own arm and then told me, "mom ... I think I am Indian" and, since their father is from Peru, and of course has some Native American (Inca) blood in him, I said "Of course Diego, you dad is part Indian from South America" and he replied, "no, mommy, Indian like Jacob." I rolled my eyes and wished him good night.

I'm falling in love with Diego!

[MDPhDWife]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

Here's part two from an email from Diego's mom:

Diego's story has a second part: last night, when the kids were going to bed, I noticed Diego kept on looking at his own arm and then told me, "mom ... I think I am Indian" and, since their father is from Peru, and of course has some Native American (Inca) blood in him, I said "Of course Diego, you dad is part Indian from South America" and he replied, "no, mommy, Indian like Jacob." I rolled my eyes and wished him good night.

I'm falling in love with Diego!

That is too cute!

[DCJenn]

Re: the boy who's skin matches mine

That's GREAT!

and you know, one of the things I love about this site is the numbers of mixed races/cultures/religions our medical couples have.

I hope this is a microcosm of the rest of America. (I know that it's not but maybe)

Nikolai's Crunchy School is (as you would expect) pretty diverse considering how homogenous San Antonio is.

Jenn