I’ve never really followed anything viral, but this one is definitely caught my heart.
I laughed long and hard.
Our family watched together, a few times, and we all laughed, every single time!
This is an image of a father trying to work at home and your kids just marching in, many of us can relate to same kind of situation.
And a lot of controversy is around the whole story, because many people assumed that the women in the video was a nanny, but she is actually professor’s wife.
You know what, my husband is married to an Asian, and his first thought is also she is a nanny.
Let’s stop talking about racial stereotype for a second. There is maybe another reason for this mistake.
IMHO, this is less to do with she’s Asian or not, but more to do with the body language of the two adults:
The wife: rushed to the room in panic, crouched down to retrieve the kids, closed door on her knees.
On the other hand, professor Kelly: stayed very professional, kept sitting in front of the computer (didn’t stand up to help), let the woman manage the kids.
To be honest, I think she did as best as she could in this kind of situation.
But why she reacted this way is deep in her Korean culture. She mostly thinks a television channel as an authority (hey, it’s BBC). She was trying to hide herself and her kids from the camera, by crouching down and staying low the whole time. And she RESPECTS her husband and doesn’t want him to lose face in front of TV.
But her respect may be interpreted as a respect to the supposedly “hiring family”. “She must be in big trouble!”
And Kelly’s professionalism may be interpreted as “He is the boss” or “The nanny should take care of the kids.”
Does it make sense?
What if she was coming in casually and picked the daughter up to go out of the room, and maybe even make a joke in front of live TV. Will you still think she’s the nanny not the wife?
I’m an Asian, so my opinion may be biased.
If it was you in that situation, what would you do? Do you think your culture would impact the way you react? Please leave a comment below.
Let’s laugh one more time, shall we?
Qi
Hi Qi
Being Korean myself, her behaviour was totally Korean. It’s a shame that people assumed she was the hired help. I too am in an interracial marriage. My son has blonde curly hair. I often get asked which house I work at at the playground from other nannies. On one occasion a lady at Home Depot asked for my telephone number because she wanted to hire me as she thought I was a genuinely loving nanny to what she thought was my bosses child. I always tell my children. Everyone is free to think what they like. But if you’re not sure about anything whether it be age, culture, race, pregnancy. Anything, then it’s better to be silent. Because ignorance can be irritating but more often, hurtful. I enjoyed your storyXo betty
Hi Betty, Thank you for validating my point! Be taken as a nanny is totally annoying, I feel you! (Though I consider myself super lucky since my hubby has dark hair too:-). What you teach your kids are so important about not to hurt other people! I think they should also learn how to protect themselves, since the fact of being different exposes them to be judged more. It may not be easy for an adult to deal with the situation, for kids they need even more help. In 2 weeks I’m bringing my girls to visit China for the first time. I wish I can prepare them enough to be able to face being continuously stared or commented, by their own people. But China may have progressed a lot since the time I left. Let’s see what happens.