Tia Bandavanis

My name is Tia and I'm very excited to join the Realteen team. I am a fun-loving, caring, and colorful person. I begin and end everyday with a smile. There is only one man in my life and that is my 15 yr. old son John. It's been my job to raise my son from a young age through his teen years. I am a single mom and I feel as though I have done my best to help my son become a responsible young man. I was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in the Maryland and D.C. area. I moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina in 1992. I now consider myself to be a native. I miss family dearly but find ways to visit often. My home and heart is here in Onslow County. This is pretty much due to the fact that I have raised my son here and found it to be a great place to live. I currently teach preschool at a local preschool. I have been teaching for over 20 years. I love children of all ages and could not imagine myself doing any other profession. I enjoy outings with my son to the movies, watching football, visiting local spots such as the Lynwood Park Zoo, going to the beach, and canoeing along our local rivers. I look forward to writing and reading the blogs. I feel this is a great opportunity to explore my parenting role and others. Parenting my teen son has been very rewarding and challenging. However, I have learned that being an effective parent is about learning and growing along with my son!

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A Hard Lesson Learned

April 17th, 2010 Tawana Humphrey

122

While here on vacation, we went out for breakfast at a major pancake restaurant. It was my mother, my three children, my mother’s Jamaican friend Wayne, and I. My son was the one who suggested we have breakfast there because it is one of his favorite restaurants.

Everybody was seated as the waitress looked for a table to seat us. There were two tables right up front that were not in use. My mother’s friend wondered why the waitress would not sit us there when there were two tables available. I said it may have been because they were reserved. He noted that there was no one else there at the restaurant waiting.

Soon a Caucasian family came into the restaurant and they were immediately seated. My mother’s friend asked the waitress how did that family get seated before us and she could not provide him with a reason. All she could say was that they were getting a table ready for us. He immediately asked for the manager, expressed how he felt and we left the restaurant.

As we were walking to the parking lot, another waitress came out to apologize and ask if we would please return to the restaurant. We let Wayne make the decision and went back in, only to be isolated in the far back of the restaurant. Soraya told me that she noticed that all of the African American families were located at the back of the restaurant. I didn’t pay it any attention because I was so ready to get out of there.

123 I must say that I was glad my mother’s friend was with us when this happened. Right now, I think if it was just us, we would have just left and left the situation alone. He is from a different generation and taught my kids and I a valuable lesson. I asked Soraya how she felt about it and she said, ” It just goes to show that discrimination still exists. I guess it’s something that will never go away.”

I do plan on contacting the head office to let them know what happened and plead that this must not happen to anyone again.

2 Comments on “A Hard Lesson Learned”

jean April 20th, 2010 6:55 pm
am sorry something like that happen this day and time…please lets be aware of whats going on in our childrens life
Tawana April 21st, 2010 12:09 pm
So true, we do need to be aware. Then when things are not right, it’s the perfect time to discuss ways of handling the situation.