Skin Colors? Black History Month

I can do better. I choose to do better.

When is the right time to do the race/ skin  talk with your child? Should you even do the race/ skin talk with your child? I naively assumed that I still had a window, my children are still young and probably not seeing in skin colors. Then came Doc. Mcstuffins. So I was asking my daughter why she loved the show. She said " Doc is a girl, she made her toys and her friends toys feel better and because she is brown". I was like "brown?" She said" yes, brown like me" And I saw that window being blown by the wind. I wasn't sure if she was leaning more to those who looked more like her just because. Is there a science about this? At first I didn't know what to say. Not one to let a learning opportunity slip by, I asked so "what other kind of people do you see apart from brown people?" She said "the not-so brown and those that look like Miss C "*Miss C is her teacher and she is white* I was like "OK" and  didn't know whether to launch into the full race talk. I just told her Ms C is white and she is not brown but black. Which led to an argument on colors. I managed to let her know that irrespective of the skin color, there are only two kinds of people: good and bad. I didn't know how much to say to a preschooler.

I wouldn't like to fuel the evil tweet from the Onion about an innocent black girl, all I can say is that irrespective of their skin color, they are part of the bad people.

February is black history month  and we managed to join the activities at the community college to learn about the history of the black people in the area where we now call home. It was fun learning something new and I felt shame that my knowledge of great Nigerians is limited and mostly forgotten. The stories fresh in my head are those of the "bad" ones. I need to refresh myself on the stories of the good people.

How are you guys doing?

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Gossip can be good for you

I am back!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!

It wasn't like I ever left. I come up here almost everyday * apart from weekends*, I go through my blog list. Enjoy all the beautiful stories, juicy gists and yummy food posts * I see you, Myne*, and sometimes I even get to the comment sections. After all that work, posting something up here is like a chore. I always get discouraged thinking thoughts I shouldn't even be thinking. Anyways, today I overcame that voice that sometimes whispers to me. I am doing this today.

I hope you guys are doing good. It is the February  already. This year is running the good race. January was good and I pray February be better. We are having better weather now minus the heavy snow. Maybe I don't mind the snow when it is fresh, it is after it turns to sleet that I have a problem * like most people I guess* I fell down twice last month. Once I slipped on sleet as I got out of the car and my son was asking me what I was doing on the ground. I didnt know whether to cry or just laugh it off. Where is summer o?

I was listening to a podcast the other day and I heard that according to a recent study carried out by the University of California, Berkeley, It is good to gossip. We used to sing this song growing up; Gossip gossip evil thing, much unhappiness it brings; If you can't say something nice, don't talk at all is my advice. According to this study,engaging in pro-social gossip is beneficial. Not all gossip is idle chatter, sometimes if you are trying to warn someone about dishonest or untrustworthy people that translates to something good, so even though it is termed as gossip, it is good gossip.  You can find the report here.You know how sometimes you have this juicy gist and you can't just wait to share it with someone, but when you think it would be gossiping you just keep it to  yourself or you put it down in your journal and forget about it. But no matter how bad a rap gossip has gathered, people still indulge.The tabloids still make good sales . So do you gossip or will you?

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