The other day, while we were in the playground with our kids, I and my husband overheard a child of what looked like a 6-7 year old, screaming to another one “hey, don’t do that, that is racism!”. We found it quite inappropriate, not only context-wise, but also because of the simple fact that a young child knew about the concept of “racism”.  The truth of the matter is, he really didn’t know what he was talking about because he was using the wrong word to address a kid pulling the hair of another kid, and there was no color/nationality difference there. Just kids acting as kids. In children’s world, race doesn’t exist. Adults are the ones who plant the concept in their minds. Later on, we understood that he had just learned about it in school, because another girl showed up reading a definition of racism from her notebook.

It was one of the clear examples I identified after reading Anthony de Mello’s book -Awareness- who says that “agreement and disagreement have to do with words and concepts and theories. They don’t have anything to do with truth. Truth is never expressed in words. “ I will also further quote A.S. Neill’s who said in his book “Summerhill” (that I haven’t read yet, but was also mentioned by Anthony de Mello): “Every child has a god in him; our attempts to mold the child will turn the god into a devil;” And to paraphrase him further, “If a child feels loved, he’s ok – he doesn’t experience violence. No violence, no fear. And he will begin to treat others the way he has been treated.”

It is important to educate our children about realities around the world – but as smart and pure as they are, I believe they can observe the world and drag conclusions for themselves of what good vs bad is. As long as they treat their peers well, change will happen.