quote:

---

Dear Ms. Communicate,
My primary school-aged son has picked up a habit that I'm not sure how to deal with, especially when he does it in public. He often imitates accents, particularly Pakistani, Indian and Middle Eastern ones. He doesn't do it in a mocking tone or say anything racist or derogatory. He just seems to like the way some words or phrases sound in certain accents.

My son is white. He goes to a very diverse school, with lots of children from a wide range of countries, particularly central Asia and East Africa. He says that he has picked up this habit with his friends, who, like my son, speak English in the dominant "Canadian" accent, but hear Asian accents at home and like to imitate them, especially with their friends.

I'm not sure what to do. I love his creativity, and I can see that this is a way for him to experiment with the sounds and language he hears around him. I don't want to stifle this. But at the same time, I worry that if a white kid is overheard imitating "foreign" accents, it will sound like he's making fun of people with English as a second language.

Do you have advice on how to handle this?

Accentuate the Positive

---

I think most kids if they have any empathy at all, especially those getting toward middle grade school, will understand that teasing causes pain, and this can be percieved by those hearing as teasing even if it isn't meant that way.

I want to admit something at this point. My kids are 16 and 20, and are in a very good space in terms of socio/political attitudes and development. I can see both in thier own way turning into effective fighters for the cause. It's become a little running gag however, *ONLY* within the confines of the immediate family, to throw into the conversation some howler so horrifyingly politically incorrect as to make the others gasp and to invite an immediate thunderbolt. A real winner will not only make the others choke, but to even make the one who said it shudder and say "oh god I'm going to hell now".

[ 15 March 2008: Message edited by: aka Mycroft ]