On our way to school, my daughter was telling me about a teacher at her school and when she mentioned her name (we’ll call her Mrs. C.), I realized that there was a man at her school with the same last name. This following conversation proceeded:
Me: Are Mrs. C. and Mr. C. were related?
Her: I don’t think so.
Me: Why not? They have the same last name.
Her: Well, Mrs. C. is brown and Mr. C. is pink.
Me: Oh, okay.
Now, I have gone out of my way to keep her from using the societal labels of black or white, so everyone is either pink or some shade of brown. I was glad to see that her impressionable mind still hadn’t been tainted, but I also wanted her to know that people within the same family can be different shades; heck, even different colors.
So, the conversation ended like this:
Me: It doesn’t matter if they are different colors. They can still be family.
Her: WHAT!
Me: Yup. They can be brother and sister, cousins, or husband and wife.
Her: I don’t think they’re married.
Me: thinking *I’m not going to go there right now* Okay, well maybe they’re related in some other way.
Her: Maybe you’re right. I’m going to ask them today.
*sigh* I guess at some point I’m going to have a more in depth conversation with her about race. But until then, brown Mrs. C and pink Mr. C will have to do 
At what age do you think it is appropriate to explain American race relations to children?
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That's hilarious and cute about the pink. It reminds me of when I was a little girl and used to use the peach or pink crayon to color in "white" people because the white crayon didn't really work on coloring book paper. I'm surprised (and impressed!) that you've been able to screen your daughter from the US race relations lingo for so long — but clearly she's already gotten some ideas about monoracial families and the like. It's a sticky situation, good luck! I really like your blog, btw.
Thanks! It does become harder and harder as she gets older. I was lucky because for the first four years of school, she was in a French immersion program that had children from everywhere. So, I think this made it very easy for her to accept that we all look and sound different. Now that she's in a mainstream school, I'm up against a lot "different" points of view from other kids.
That is so cute!