-"I don't know what color will match."
-"What do you mean?"
-"It won't match here, on my face!"
-"You mean on your skin?"
-"Yes, you know, because I am brown."
-"oh girl, the color will still show up. Don't worry."
-"This is why her skin is much better then mine. I like her face better."
I don't consider our family a transracial adoptive family. My sweet sister is just beautifully tanned all year round, born in the tiny Eastern European country of Bulgaria. I didn't think it was a big deal. I didn't think skin color issues were a thing we would have to deal with, it was the least of our worries.
But tonight, while standing in line to get the girls faces painted I found out the truth. Sweet sister notices that her skin is different. She wishes her skin looked like her little sisters skin. This spring she was SO proud of the color of her skin. She would walk around teasing us about how white we are. What changed since then?
So my question to you is, what do we do? How do we encourage her to be proud of the color of her skin? How do we let her know she is perfect just like she is? That the color of someones skin is not nearly as important as a persons heart? Any thoughts or advice? Talk to me!
Girlfriend is beautiful, I want her to truly know and believe that!
3 comments:
No ideas for you, but I think she is beyond gorgeous!!
I don't have a very firm answer either. I know that many people would say, "God made you with your beautiful skin color, just the way you are." but I feel like that's so hard for a seven or eight year old to wrap their mind around. Your sister is so so beautiful. Maybe reminding her every day that she is beautiful? I need to do that more often for ALL of my sisters, as well!
When the topic comes up we do remind her "well God made you with beautiful brown skin and us with very white skin!" and we seriously tell her how beautiful she is everyday. ;) But still this comes up. Maybe it is just a phase. Sigh.
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