A mother shares her efforts to protect her child from what she will experience as she grows. She is “chocolate” and adopted by “vanilla” parents. Good advice.
“Do you want to be chocolate?” This was Mercy’s question to me. Mercy is our Ethiopian born, adopted daughter and she’s quick to tell you she’s chocolate and mommy and daddy are vanilla.
“OK.” I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going.
“Then you have to open your heart,” she told me. “Chocolate’s in your heart.”
A day later she informed me there was some vanilla in her heart. She wasn’t saying she wanted to be vanilla. She just wanted me to know she had some in her heart, like I had chocolate in mine.
Out of the mouths of babes. On the outside we look different, but on the inside we’re pretty much the same. Even a four year old gets that.
To Mercy, some people are chocolate and some are vanilla just as some people are tall and some are short. And some people have big bellies—she’s embarrassed…
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Parents Are People Too 
As children enter school, prejudice will become something to overcome. Racism is one and hard to escape if your skin color varies from those around you. But many others wait to diminish the sense of worth, so important to leading a life that matters. What prejudices do you fight and what prejudices to you practice? Something to ponder. I’ll share mine if you share yours.