I was a young Korean mother married to a French man when interracial marriage was not as common as it is now. My children, especially when they were young, did not look a lot like me. (In fact, my oldest son had blond hair when he was young – go figure!) I think many people seeing us at play wondered if they were my children. They’d sometimes ask how I was related to them, and I’d answer and explain. But then there were exceptions….
One day, at a parent council meeting, a woman approached me and said, “You are the best nanny I’ve ever met”. Huh? Then I realized that this was the case of one of the above mentioned exceptions! When people approached me and ask me if I was a nanny, assuming I was a nanny, I’d sometimes just say “yes”. Why bother when….
Well, that was awkward. All these years, she thought I was a nanny! And here I was always active in the parent council, often on the executive! If I were a nanny, she is right, I’d have been a great nanny. I’m sure these kinds of mistakes do not happen often these days as there are more and more interracial marriages and people have learned not to assume a child’s heritage by their looks. It certainly taught me the importance of not making certain assumptions - and, not answering people flippantly.
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