My daughter Emily is clever.

Clever in the get-her-sums-right kind of way. And also in a see-the-stuff-below-the-surface socially aware kind of way.

I am VERY proud of her. She is 13 going on 35 and in every way wonderful.

But- she is also rather… blonde.

Now I am not into judgmental stereotyping of folks as a result of outward appearance- it is against everything I stand for. But sometimes,  I wonder.

There are lots and lots of blonde jokes out there- the sorts of things that everyone finds funny (unless you happen to be blonde that is…)

For example-

So earlier, I was talking to Emily about Kuala Lumpar, and she asked me if it was in Spain. Fair enough- many of us would struggle to be sure about the whereabouts of Kuala Lumpar (Malaysia by the way- for the Blondes amongst us.)

When I rather harshly chuckled at the possible Spanish connection, and asked her what city she thought might be the capital of Spain, she replied ‘Portugal?’

Again rather unkindly, I laughed, and suggested that that would be like saying that France is the capital of Germany, she said ‘Oh right- and they are not even close to one another are they?’

I corrected her about the location of these European neighbours, and then told her that Madrid was the capital of Spain.

‘Oh right’ she said ‘I thought Madrid was a football team.’

On the other hand, perhaps she has a blonde geography teacher…