Chicken

When Freya was just two and a half she was explaining to my good friend Liza:

‘There are no Whales in Wales’.

I just loved that – the innocence of her thoughts and words. Yesterday Freya was explaining to her little friend Ella, that our new au pair (arriving next month) will be visiting us from ‘Chicken’ – she meant Turkey. I found myself panicking and interrupted to correct her, automatically.

I am keen for our children not to offend our new family member or anyone else for that matter. We would hate anyone to ever interpret our behaviour as racist.

Why was it OK for me to laugh out loud when Freya was talking about Wales though? Am I trying too hard not to offend those from far away lands? When Freya could possibly have been offending her father I didn’t take her words seriously or consider them to be dangerous. James laughed too, because we had never noticed the possible expectation of our daughter on her visit to Wales.

Perhaps we should all lighten up and not be so sensitive, everyone, even those from Whales, Chicken and 'Cooking Oil' (Greece) – thanks for that Max!