Julia Sims: Try a little tenderness

I remember when my son came home from preschool and said, "Johnny has a brown face and his two daddies have white faces. I wish we could have a family like that."

I remember my heart swelling as I listened to those words, thinking perhaps he'll grow up in a world where there's no bias and no racism. It's one of the (many) times I thought to myself, "OK, this little boy gets it. He's going to be just fine."

My son is no different than all the other kids out there. Just visit your local playground or schoolyard. Sure, you'll see taunting and teasing, but you'll also see kids being incredibly kind to one another.

You'll see a little boy encouraging another child sitting off to the side by themselves to come play with the group. You'll see a girl who rushes to her friend's defense when someone else calls her a name. You'll see a group of kids tell a crying goalie it's okay that three balls slipped passed him ... and he'll wipe away those tears and stand a little taller because of the kindness of his friends.

Here's the thing: Not one of them cares one bit about the skin color of the other.

In the last week, we have once again seen too much heartache in our country from Baton Rouge to Falcon Heights to Dallas.

I'm not breaking any new ground with this observation. It's not some new revelation. Kids are compassionate and treat each other much better than most adults do. Let's not teach them to hate. Maybe, just maybe, it's time we learn a lesson from them.