On the almost too funny for words front, my daughter asked my mother-in-law to smile yesterday while they were sitting at the dinner table having some lunch. Like a good grandma, she smiled even though she had food in her mouth forcing a closed mouth smile. This wouldn’t be anything most of us would think twice about, save for my daughter replying “So it is true. You can’t see a white person’s teeth when they smile. You can see the teeth of a Black person when they smile. See.” The best part is she is missing her front teeth.
Of course as soon as the mouthful was swallowed, this belief was shown to be wrong. Still, I find it interesting to watch how my kids define themselves in the world as they look for “alike” and “different” even in our family. In a lot of ways, it seems my family is sociology writ micro with a healthy dose of psychology. Here’s hoping my kids find a place in society they can define themselves and be content.
