Smells Like Teen Spirit with a Hint of Racism

I grew up in a small town that was primarily Caucasian. I think there were one and a half African-American families and I believe we were the only AmerAsian family for a while. I remember my nicknames were things like "Sammi the Siamese Cat" and "Eggroll." When I read aloud in class kids would say, "Ching chong! We can't understand you because you don't speak American!"

I also remember being serenaded with the words, "And we don't know what we're singing 'cause Sammi is Korean" sung to the tune of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

I can laugh about it now, because it really is quite humorous and also demonstrates their ignorance. I'm not Siamese or Korean and we speak English, not "American".

That's part of being a kid, though. As a kid, you are ignorant. I made fun of kids too. I made fun of a girl for having red hair and I made fun of a kid who smelled bad. I'm not proud. It's just proof that kids are a buncha jerks and make fun of other kids. I would have been made fun of had I been fat, worn glasses, etc.

It just so happens that I was teased relentlessly over being a different color and to me because I was different, I was ugly. Sadly, it's far worse now than it ever has been.

As a mother, it really strikes a chord with me that we are constantly bombarded with images of of sex and perfection. We are teaching our children that if you do not look a certain way, that you have no place in society. We are teaching a daughters from a young age to be admired for their bodies and encouraging them to show more and more skin. We are teaching our son's to have unrealistic expectations about what women should look like and what they should be used for.

We parents only have this small amount of time that our children are innocent. There is nothing wrong with wanting to preserve their innocence by instilling in them values that may contradict societal norms. My children know that they are beautiful, they are (and it's not bragging because I didn't make them!) But they also know that their self worth is not measured by their beauty.