Teaching Tolerance to a Toddler: The Sequel

On Wednesday morning Riley and I went to a supermarket that we don’t usually shop at. It was soon apparent that the majority of the customers were senior citizens. Several waved at Riley and said hi to her. A couple of them told me how cute they thought she was. Riley seems to only have two possible reactions when strangers give her attention. She may scrunch her fingers in a wave and flash them her friendliest smile. Or she may just avoid eye contact with them with an expressionless face. This particular day she was treating all these friendly seniors to the second reaction.

I had just picked up the last item on my list when an old lady approached and waved at Riley. And Riley, of course, just looked away. Then the woman started fishing in her purse for something. It seemed as though she was looking for something to give to Riley. A linty piece of hard candy was my guess. I was ready to head up to the register, but I stalled while she continued to search.

After what seemed like a really long time she pulled out a small tan-colored cylinder. It was about as tall as a soda can, but about half as big around. Before I could figure out what it was she pressed it against her neck and started talking. In a total Steven Hawking voice! “I usually don’t get this out around children because it scares them.” As I tried to respond in a way that seemed that this kind of thing was an every day occurrence for us, I couldn't help but wonder, if she doesn’t usually use her little voice can to talk to kids, what was different about my seemingly timid child. I explained that my daughter was being pretty shy regardless. Then I wished her a good day and we headed off to pay for our groceries.