After a certain celebrity was ostensibly charged with "breaking the internet" last week I'm reminded of this incident from several months ago...
Back on Father's Day we went to breakfast at our usual spot (because I am a person who prefers familiarity) and although our infant son was in the car seat (in those last weeks before he outgrew it) he wasn't sleeping through things (as he had been doing back then when we went out to eat). But that's not the noteworthy thing here.
Because he was awake we didn't cover the seat with a blanket and thus he was somewhat visible to other patrons. That's not a big deal in general. We'd looked at others' babies over the years so it was only fair that others could take him in.
After we got seated in our booth a woman (not someone we recognized) came over. The canopy of the seat was extended so she asked to see him and so we acquiesced and pulled the canopy back. She remarked on his cuteness and being a handsome boy, and we offered the polite gratitude to the compliments.
Then she commented on how her friend (who had seen him during our trip to the table, and talked about him to inspire this woman to come over and sort of demand to see him) said he looked like North West (the offspring of celebrity couple Kanye West and Kim Kardashian) and she agreed. To which we politely smiled and then she went away.
It's not that we doubt our son's skin tone may be similar to that of the famous child (given both come from mixed raced couples where one parent is African-American) but to compare our child in any way to that of two egotistical, narcissistic nitwits (with whom the tabloids are obsessed) fails to be complimentary.
We aren't so sensitive as to take serious offense, and all we wanted was the interaction to be over so taking to task what she'd said was not worthwhile. However, the truly disturbing aspect (especially afterward) is this realization this could happen again, that due to mere coincidence of when both babies were born the infant West could be a common comparison for our son among those who fancy the notion there are being enlightened in this when they're really just creating mildly awkward moments for parents to have to endure.
~
Thank goodness in the intervening months he has got bigger and he does cute things to offer distractions from dwelling on his skin tone. Thus far there have been no subsequent incidents.
Thus far...
Back on Father's Day we went to breakfast at our usual spot (because I am a person who prefers familiarity) and although our infant son was in the car seat (in those last weeks before he outgrew it) he wasn't sleeping through things (as he had been doing back then when we went out to eat). But that's not the noteworthy thing here.
Because he was awake we didn't cover the seat with a blanket and thus he was somewhat visible to other patrons. That's not a big deal in general. We'd looked at others' babies over the years so it was only fair that others could take him in.
After we got seated in our booth a woman (not someone we recognized) came over. The canopy of the seat was extended so she asked to see him and so we acquiesced and pulled the canopy back. She remarked on his cuteness and being a handsome boy, and we offered the polite gratitude to the compliments.
Then she commented on how her friend (who had seen him during our trip to the table, and talked about him to inspire this woman to come over and sort of demand to see him) said he looked like North West (the offspring of celebrity couple Kanye West and Kim Kardashian) and she agreed. To which we politely smiled and then she went away.
It's not that we doubt our son's skin tone may be similar to that of the famous child (given both come from mixed raced couples where one parent is African-American) but to compare our child in any way to that of two egotistical, narcissistic nitwits (with whom the tabloids are obsessed) fails to be complimentary.
We aren't so sensitive as to take serious offense, and all we wanted was the interaction to be over so taking to task what she'd said was not worthwhile. However, the truly disturbing aspect (especially afterward) is this realization this could happen again, that due to mere coincidence of when both babies were born the infant West could be a common comparison for our son among those who fancy the notion there are being enlightened in this when they're really just creating mildly awkward moments for parents to have to endure.
~
Thank goodness in the intervening months he has got bigger and he does cute things to offer distractions from dwelling on his skin tone. Thus far there have been no subsequent incidents.
Thus far...
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