I was pushing Daisy around Aldi on Saturday, she was sat in the little seat in the back of the trolley and I was doing someone else's shopping for them, when a rather attractive young lady waved a friendly little wave to my beautiful, blonde, nearly 3 year old, daughter.
Daisy immediately went into hyper-shy mode, trying not to look at the woman while hiding behind me, and failing to do either thing very well.
This is NOT like my daughter at all. She is usually the most gregarious and friendly of children.
"Are you going to wave back, Daisy? Are you going to wave back at the nice lady?"
No. She wasn't.
I smiled at the rather attractive young lady (who, on closer inspection,turned out to be to be very attractive) and pulled that 'Hey-ho, she's two - Kids eh? - Sorry about that.' expression that comes so naturally to me these days. Round the corner (by the crisps) I asked Daisy why she hadn't waved back.
"I didn't know the lady's name" she said reluctantly. I thought for a moment. Ok, fair enough. Some of Holly's Stranger Danger schooling wearing off in the right way. I gave her a little hug
"But it's okay, Daisy; I'm with you. It's all right to say hello if Mummy or Daddy are with you." Round the next corner we bump into the Very Attractive Young Lady - and her, boyfriend and her parents (?) again.
"Hello again." I said. "She says she didn't wave back because she didn't know your name."
"That's okay," says the Very Attractive Young Lady. She smiles at Daisy. "My name is Jamilla, can you say that? Jamilla."
Daisy goes into Hyper-shy mode cubed, says nothing and clings onto me. There is no way she is going to say or do anything other than look extremely cute.
I make my pathetic. 'Sorry, she just gets like this sometimes' face.
"Daisy, are you going to say 'Hello' to the lady? Going to say 'hello'? No? Oh well, never mind. Next time. Sorry about this, she gets a bit shy sometimes. Come on Daisy, let's go and see what's in the fridge over there. Bye. Going to wave bye-bye? No? Well, bye, nice to have met you."
And off we all went in our separate directions.
The thing here is that Jamilla, apart from being VERY attractive*, is also probably, outside of the television, the first black person Daisy has ever seen.
That is one of the drawbacks for me of living in such a small rural community. Nearly everyone here is white - or, more accurately, various shades of grubby pink. There is only one non-Caucasian child at the village school and my woofelly Liberal brain was wobbling all over the place when Daisy got all self-concious and shy and staring. What should I do? What was I supposed to say? "Hi, sorry my daughter is staring at you but she's never seen a black person before."? Maybe not... I don't think so.
What I did was what all good, woolly liberals have done since time immemorial when faced with potentially embarrassing behaviour from their children. I changed the subject and pointed at the first thing I noticed in the opposite direction, no matter how banal, and tried to sound enthusiastic.
"Look Daisy! Feta cheese in olive oil!"
.
Daisy immediately went into hyper-shy mode, trying not to look at the woman while hiding behind me, and failing to do either thing very well.
This is NOT like my daughter at all. She is usually the most gregarious and friendly of children.
"Are you going to wave back, Daisy? Are you going to wave back at the nice lady?"
No. She wasn't.
I smiled at the rather attractive young lady (who, on closer inspection,turned out to be to be very attractive) and pulled that 'Hey-ho, she's two - Kids eh? - Sorry about that.' expression that comes so naturally to me these days. Round the corner (by the crisps) I asked Daisy why she hadn't waved back.
"I didn't know the lady's name" she said reluctantly. I thought for a moment. Ok, fair enough. Some of Holly's Stranger Danger schooling wearing off in the right way. I gave her a little hug
"But it's okay, Daisy; I'm with you. It's all right to say hello if Mummy or Daddy are with you." Round the next corner we bump into the Very Attractive Young Lady - and her, boyfriend and her parents (?) again.
"Hello again." I said. "She says she didn't wave back because she didn't know your name."
"That's okay," says the Very Attractive Young Lady. She smiles at Daisy. "My name is Jamilla, can you say that? Jamilla."
Daisy goes into Hyper-shy mode cubed, says nothing and clings onto me. There is no way she is going to say or do anything other than look extremely cute.
I make my pathetic. 'Sorry, she just gets like this sometimes' face.
"Daisy, are you going to say 'Hello' to the lady? Going to say 'hello'? No? Oh well, never mind. Next time. Sorry about this, she gets a bit shy sometimes. Come on Daisy, let's go and see what's in the fridge over there. Bye. Going to wave bye-bye? No? Well, bye, nice to have met you."
And off we all went in our separate directions.
The thing here is that Jamilla, apart from being VERY attractive*, is also probably, outside of the television, the first black person Daisy has ever seen.
That is one of the drawbacks for me of living in such a small rural community. Nearly everyone here is white - or, more accurately, various shades of grubby pink. There is only one non-Caucasian child at the village school and my woofelly Liberal brain was wobbling all over the place when Daisy got all self-concious and shy and staring. What should I do? What was I supposed to say? "Hi, sorry my daughter is staring at you but she's never seen a black person before."? Maybe not... I don't think so.
What I did was what all good, woolly liberals have done since time immemorial when faced with potentially embarrassing behaviour from their children. I changed the subject and pointed at the first thing I noticed in the opposite direction, no matter how banal, and tried to sound enthusiastic.
"Look Daisy! Feta cheese in olive oil!"
*"I'm a married spud, I'm a married spud..."
.
1 comment:
VERY attractive, huh??
Mrs Spud
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