Alaafia Kids Company was born in August 2004 in response to my three-year-old daughter’s need for acceptance by certain peers at a local playground. I noticed her discomfort, (I’d even call it pain), when her attempts at friendship with certain children were rejected again and again. She had no problem being accepted by and getting along with mixed race or African American children. Of course, I can’t be sure that her brown skin and kinky brown hair made certain children shy away from her, but it was my best guess. Or, possibly, her rejection stemmed from her being with me, a 100% Caucasian of East European descent.
I couldn’t understand why certain children were giving my daughter the cold shoulder. I thought children didn’t see color, or hair texture, or facial structure. Children were children, right? And children naturally play with each other. So what was the matter?
I broached the subject with another mom whose African American daughter befriended my own. My prediction was proven correct. Her daughter, at age two, also felt unwanted at a predominantly white playground in another state. This mom said that after only a few minutes at the playground, after her daughter made a few attempts at friendship followed by rejection, her daughter said that she wanted to go home.
