By George, I think she's got it!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy July 4th.

Despite intermittent rain, we spent the day at a pool party. There were about a dozen kids having a great time splashing around and moving from the hot tub to the pool. Pedistrian kid stuff for July 4th.

At one point, the kids were all in the hot tub-eleven blonde-haired, blue-eyed kids and one Asian girl-my daughter. They started to compare their summer tans. Needless to say the blondes were on the pale side of tan. My daughter, on the other hand, gets quite dark.

That is when something amazing happened! As the kids started to even hint that darker skin was not desirable, my daughter piped up and said "just think if all the flowers were the same color-that would be so boring. Its the same with people. Our differences make the world interesting." Then she proceeded to organize the kids on a 'color hunt' in the flower garden. They were able to pick out dozens of colors-including several shades of blue from one hydranga bush. She had made her point.

Needless to say, I was bursting with pride. The other parents looked on in amazement at the entire exchange. First of all, they were surprised the kids started the skin color conversation! Secondly, the ease in which my daughter handled the question and then the live example was a great sight to see.

Then I thought about some of my own rantings on this blog. Sometimes, I seem santimonious and for that I apologize. That is not my intent. My intent is to raise our collective consciousnesses to embrace the fact that we can do something about bias and racism-and it only helps our kids deal with the world around them.

When we do it right-or even if we just try-the results are amazing.

What did your kids do to amaze you on July 4th?

With respect and celebration,
Deb