Inappropriate comments from teaching assistant

madnessandmayhem

Someone asked me the other day if i burn eaily in the sun because I have an 'irish' complexion-hmmm what do you think-time to call the police for political correctness??!!

Actually as it happens I DO have an Irish complexion (reddish hair, fair skinned with freckles-my grandparents were irish!) and i do burn easily-more so than my husband who has dark hair and who goes a nice tanned colour as soon as the sun so much as thinks of poking out of the clouds!! I was not offended by this remark-it is a fact I do have an 'irish' complexion!

I would just like to add that i hope i have not offended any irish people by my comments

oh and at school a teaher once asked me if i was irish cos i had an 'irish face'??!!! (he was also irish!) i don't remember my mum storming up the school demanding to speak with him-i think she just laughed :rotfl:

Zazen999

Quasar wrote: »

All I can say is that I'm glad I've never worked with children and now not even with other people, but do marketing surveys on my own. It seems that even simple conversation and quite innocent remarks made with no malice at all, but taken out of context, can land you into trouble these days

Like most women I find children endaring but I avoid them whenever possible because I'm too scared that unintentional touching or innocuous remarks might be taken out of context by some who want to find offence and make a few waves around.

This is the society that has been created by stretching PC to absurd levels - one where racism or any other no-no can be construed even where there isn't any, and in fact might cause more than there already is, giving rise unnecessary suspicion and animosity. Not a good way to encourage people to get on with one another.

I was in the post office a few weeks ago - only me and the woman being served. Her toddler daughter was standing behind her and trying to reach a card right in front of me. She kept standing on the bottom shelf at a funny angle and the mother kept telling her to get down. I picked up the card that she was stretching for and said 'is this the one you want to look at' and the mother grabbed her arm, shoved her on the other side of her and gave me 'mommy evils'. !!!!!!.

People can't do anything these days, and we are becoming a nation that is too scared to interact with children.

Madness.

madnessandmayhem

Zazen999 wrote: »

I was in the post office a few weeks ago - only me and the woman being served. Her toddler daughter was standing behind her and trying to reach a card right in front of me. She kept standing on the bottom shelf at a funny angle and the mother kept telling her to get down. I picked up the card that she was stretching for and said 'is this the one you want to look at' and the mother grabbed her arm, shoved her on the other side of her and gave me 'mommy evils'. !!!!!!.

People can't do anything these days, and we are becoming a nation that is too scared to interact with children.

Madness.

the mum might have been annoyed because she was telling her child to get down, perhaps becasue she didn't want her fiddling with all the cards in the shop if she was not going to buy them, and you heard her tell her to get down, and then are passing her the cards??!! I remember being with my youngest son in the newsagents, and we were in the queue right by the magazines, and he kept tying to lean out of the pushchair to grab a peppa pig one and i told him 'to stop doing that because we are not buying any' and the lady behind me grabbed the magazine and was passing it to him saying 'there you go you can see it now' -i politley said 'sorry, but i've just told him no'!!! Sorry off track, but it was probably not the fact that you were interacting with her child, but more because she waas trying to get her child to behave how she wanted her to!!

Zazen999

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

the mum might have been annoyed because she was telling her child to get down, perhaps becasue she didn't want her fiddling with all the cards in the shop if she was not going to buy them, and you heard her tell her to get down, and then are passing her the cards??!! I remember being with my youngest son in the newsagents, and we were in the queue right by the magazines, and he kept tying to lean out of the pushchair to grab a peppa pig one and i told him 'to stop doing that because we are not buying any' and the lady behind me grabbed the magazine and was passing it to him saying 'there you go you can see it now' -i politley said 'sorry, but i've just told him no'!!! Sorry off track, but it was probably not the fact that you were interacting with her child, but more because she waas trying to get her child to behave how she wanted her to!!

In that case, perhaps she should have held her child's hand rather than left her to wander about?

MrsE_2

kjmtidea wrote: »

To be honest it was the 'brown skin' part of the comment that worried me, it was like she was using that as an excuse for getting 2 mixed race children mixed up but she can remember 28 white childrens names? It didn't make any sense.

Why does that bother you?
I'm guessing your son does have brown skin?

If its the "they all look the same" attitude, well I see what you mean, but maybe it is just two boys who look a little alike? I'm not very good with names.

The suncream comment was odd, have you talked to the school about that?

brownbabygirl

OP, any progress on this case? I am curious

Janepig

I think I need the Thought Police to come and have a word with DD - she's watching highlights of Wimbledon (she's only 6 so she's not usually up this late) and I just asked her who she wanted to win in the match she's watching and she said "the brown lady" (Serena Williams). Bless. I asked her why and she said because she likes brown girls. Nothing to do with me, I've never mentioned anything about anyone's race or colour or ethnicity or anything to her, nor does she live in anything like what you'd call an ethnically diverse area in the slightest.

Jxx

hpa423

Janepig wrote: »

I think I need the Thought Police to come and have a word with DD - she's watching highlights of Wimbledon (she's only 6 so she's not usually up this late) and I just asked her who she wanted to win in the match she's watching and she said "the brown lady" (Serena Williams). Bless. I asked her why and she said because she likes brown girls. Nothing to do with me, I've never mentioned anything about anyone's race or colour or ethnicity or anything to her, nor does she live in anything like what you'd call an ethnically diverse area in the slightest.

Jxx

Children of that age are so matter of fact aren't they. We could learn a lot from them in his world of PC gone mad

Bettyboop

Zazen999 wrote: »

I was in the post office a few weeks ago - only me and the woman being served. Her toddler daughter was standing behind her and trying to reach a card right in front of me. She kept standing on the bottom shelf at a funny angle and the mother kept telling her to get down. I picked up the card that she was stretching for and said 'is this the one you want to look at' and the mother grabbed her arm, shoved her on the other side of her and gave me 'mommy evils'. !!!!!!.

People can't do anything these days, and we are becoming a nation that is too scared to interact with children.

Madness.

That happened to me in Primark. A little girl about 3 was crying and her mother was calling her name for about 5 minutes. She couldn't be bothered to run after her. So when I saw her crying and saw her mother shouting her name - I started calling her name so she wouldn't run out the door. This stupid lady couldn't say thanks to me but instead she said she won't go too you? WHAT! I was trying to help her - no steal.. just draw her attention to her mother.

TheBex

Variety is the spice of life. Commenting on it is fine, surely! I'm always being told how thin I am, sometimes in a nice way but more often than not in a superior aren't-you-stupid-for-being-skinny way. I am skinny, I have little bones, I can't that.

Other things that have been commented on: I'm smart, I am flat-chested like a boy, I have pink hair, I have metal in my face, I can't catch, I'm a girl in a man's profession, I'm quite short blah blah blah really, all the things that put together define who I am and how to recogniseme in a crowd. People always need to talk about something and normally it's because they are interested in the difference.

However, comments like that from people who should know better than to make them in an insulting or degrading fashion should not go unchecked. I strongly suspect that this girl is actually trying to make your son appreciate differences between people but is articulating herself very badly.