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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My eight year old flashed this sign in a picture! I was shocked.  He doesn't spend time online, so the only thing I could think of is that he picked it up from another kid, who picked it up online or from a sibling.  To him, all he knew is that it was something funny/different/cool to do in a picture.

Even if this 12 year old did it on purpose, he's likely just doing it to be a jerk, not because he's a nazi or even racist.  He may not even know what it means, just that it's transgressive.  [/quote]

Mine too! When I questioned him he said it waz the circle game. When I told him people use it to mean something else and told him what, he was very upset and insisted I was wrong because kids at recess were doing it and its fhe circle game. When adults do it, I assume they know better. With kids, give the benefit of doubt.[/quote]

Truth.  I started to try to explain it to my 8 year old, but then I stopped, because the explanation made so little sense that I was worried that it would just hurt my ability to have good conversations with him about actual race/gender/religious discrimination issues, and actual racial slurs like the n-word.  I just left it as "you could get in trouble if you do that in a picture, and it hurts some people's feelings."  Would be easier to explain to a teen. 12 seems like on the border.  [/quote]

You need to do some more reading and research on how to talk with your kids about racism and hate. I have had productive conversations with my just-the dd 6 and 8 year olds and they know that there are words, symbols and gestures that they should never use. [/quote]

Np and I agree with this except that the OK 👌 sign is so universal that it’s literally an emoji option in my phone! Kids flash this like they do the ✌️ peace sign in photos! Not for any other reason than to be goofballs. 
Sure, you can tell them that a few (vile) people have recently hijacked it to mean something offensive, but it’s unlikely to be an issue for most people unless they are hyper-woke-sensitive and looking to find “white power” symbols in everything. Maybe OP has a valid grievance—or maybe she’s just gunningbfir this jerky kid who has been a jerk to her child at camp and hoping that this gesture gives her grievance some weight. But I really think OP should also stop and think about the seriousness of her accusation before barging into the office armed with this “obvious sign of racism” from this photo. There are, in fact, many possible interpretations for the gesture AND what he said. AND the kid could also just be a regular jerk without being a racist jerk. [/quote]

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