Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I distinctly remember two years ago when I was 8 months pregnant and teaching kindergarten having a microaggression happen to me. I has a little boy in my classroom who refused to do anything that I would ask him to do, all he wanted to do was play. One day he was asked to finish his paper at my table because I was trying to assess him at the time and he was refusing to do his work. When his father came to pick him up I explained the situation and that the boy had to sit at my table instead of "playing" (centers) because he wouldn't work. The dad got very aggressive with his language and with me yelling that I wasn't fair because I was a "young, rich, white girl with no parenting experience."

After I got him out of my classroom so the children didn't have to listen to his crude language he went up to the office to set a meeting with the principal. At this point I had to agree with him that I was much younger than him, was a "white girl" but by no means was I rich! I didn't have parenting experience either but, I had been working with children since I was 16 and it wasn't my first year teaching.

He set a meeting with the principal but refused to be in the meeting with her if I was present in the room, so I sat on the other side of the conference room listening through the cracked door. When she would questions him and what his real problem was he had no really reasons to be angry, everything he would try to put on me or the teachers that also worked with his son, she defended and explained that this was because of his sons behavior and we were only doing what was best for his son. Once she called him out on all his accusations he had to reason to really be mad at anyone but his son. From that day forward he never said anything to me negatively and only reprimanded his son. He finally understood his microaggressions, at least with me.

During the time that he was yelling at me I had a hard time trying to keep myself calm because I took it very personal. He did not have any reason to say mean things to me when I was trying to help his son. I think the hardest part is because he was yelling at me like that when I was very pregnant. I knew though at the time that I couldn't let his microaggressions towards me effect me. I had to hold my head high and continue to do what I thought was right for his son no matter what he thought of me as a person.

Having been through this experience I understand how hard people can take it when you make a microaggression comment towards them. Some people might have it together on the outside but you never know what it's like on the inside. I know that my story isn't as bad as it could be and people have a lot harsher things said to them but it make me understand that words do hurt and before casting judgement on people you need to live a day or two in their shoes, even then you might not have the whole picture.