See, we were (note the past tense) reading this children's book called Strawberry Hill
by Mary Ann Hoberman. It was a book written for ages 8 and up, probably. It was set in the era of the Great Depression, and was a about a young girl who moved into a new neighborhood in Connecticut. Well, there was this incident in this book where this young girl was called a "dirty Jew" by a neighbor. I knew I shouldn't have read that part out loud the minute it left my lips. Believe me, I am the type of person who believes in the power of words and in editing what I read to my children. For instance, when I read books that have the word "stupid" in them, I change it to "silly" because I don't like my kids to hear the word "stupid" (or "hate" or "fat" or "dumb" or "idiot"). So, anyway, I read the part about "dirty Jew" and pretended like it wasn't a big deal, even though it was obviously a big deal because they then went on to deal with it in the story.
Well, cut to yesterday, and you all know where I am going with this.
Ezra starts calling his baby sister a dirty Jew. And cut to me freaking out at him and talking about the power of words and how he should never, ever say anything like that because it is one of the worst things anybody could ever say to anybody else (next up, ladies and gents, how 'bout he learns the N word?). And cut to Ezra being amused by my antics and continuing to call baby Peace a dirty Jew because of it.
Ugh.
So, we're not reading that book anymore and it's been a day and Ezra seems to have forgotten about it, so I think we're out of the woods. Hopefully he won't ever remember it and say it in public. That would be mortifying.
2 comments:
Why not use the incident in Strawberry Hill as a teachable moment? The expression used by a child in the book is an anti-Semitic remark. This may be discussed along with racial slurs. Guidance on being tolerant as opposed to being prejudiced would be appropriate as well.
Yes, we did. I was just describing the immediate aftermath. The teachable moment did come afterward, most notably from my husband, who did an excellent job in addressing it.
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