While TLM and I were visiting a daycare centre today, TLM went up to the young, Chinese teacher who had her back to us, and put her arm around her. The other teacher present thought TLM had simply taken a really liking to that teacher. But I knew that TLM had mistaken her for me. (It didn't last; as soon as the teacher turned to look at her, TLM beat a quick retreat.)
This is where I should joke that I was flattered to be confused with a pretty 25-year-old. But it's more about the fact that very young children can't necessarily distinguish their parents from other adults of the same gender and colouring.
This explains why TLM has always smiled more at Asian women than at other people. On the other hand, strange white men seem to be no more to her than that. Is she better at distinguishing white folks? Or is the boy significantly more different-looking than I am?
6 comments:
After my dad left, when I was five, I was fascinated by men who looked like him.
He was old school blue collar, with sideburns and a DA haircut.
When I met him at fifteen he was a tiny bald man with a handlebar mustache.
And you just don't see that every day.
Jack absolutely loves Asian women. We think it comes from some memory of the time we spent in Hong Kong when he was three months old. He wore a 'Tigger' suit as he was carried around in a baby sling by his Father and everywhere they went groups of women and girls would stop what they were doing and rush over to make a fuss of the 'Tiger baby'.
nigel: I've only ever seen three handlebar moustaches - 1 was on a Canadian fellow IT geek; the 2nd was on the face of one of The Village People; and the 3rd was on someone on The Castro in San Francisco.
elizaf: It'll be interesting whether this fascination carries on into his adulthood. You might be foreseeing a future Asian daughter-in-law!
Several times young children have come up to me and held my hand. As soon as they found it was not their mommy they went running.
So we all must look the same
I mean all us adult people
angela: or maybe all us people who have, or look after, children...
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