It starts with a bag on the sidewalk.

A family in the neighborhood has cleaned out the basement and left used toys in front of the door.

In exchange for a donation to a good cause, you can take what seems too good to throw away.

The bag of costumes comes just in time a few weeks before Shrovetide.

At home, the children marvel at the loot: a fringed witch costume, a battered pirate hat and an old Indian outfit.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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When a father comes by to play with his son a few days later, the children proudly show off the old sweethearts, including the Indian costume.

“With us, you would be through with it in kindergarten,” he says.

The management asked all parents to refrain from controversial costumes on carnival.

So has the debate about cultural appropriation and clichéd disguises already reached day care centers in Frankfurt?

Politically correct carnival costumes?

A daycare center in Hamburg made headlines two years ago because it banned stereotypical costumes at the carnival party that could be perceived as derogatory, insulting or even racist.

We have not yet had such experiences in Frankfurt daycare centers.

In our kindergarten, all costumes are allowed on Shrove Tuesday.

The director only asks that no weapons be used.

The pirate shall come without a sword.

And the little superheroes have to rely on their physical strength.

The topic has not really arrived in the parent chat either.

"I think you shouldn't politicize children's carnival unnecessarily," writes one.

But not everyone is so relaxed about the disguise question.

A random sample of care facilities in Frankfurt proves that the topic definitely plays a role.

Most educators have already dealt with this.

Keywords like “blackfacing” and “redfacing” are familiar to them.

In a facility on the Riedberg, for example, the director advised the parents not to dress up the children as Chinese, Indians or cowboys before carnival.

"Especially on the Riedberg, it would be totally inappropriate for children to dress up as Chinese," she says.

Many Asians live in the new development area.

Indian costume is passé

But does that still happen?

Isn't this a mock debate?

In the 1980s, you still went to the school carnival as a Chinese.

With a round cardboard hat and skin painted yellow.

That is unthinkable today, because for the children of the big city a different origin is no longer exotic, but normal.

The playmate from China is real and not a costume.

His father says the stereotypical portrayal of Asians sometimes annoys him.

He doesn't find the song "Three Chinese on the Double Bass" funny.

If a child were to dress up as a Chinese, he would have no problem with that.

Others might.

In the 1980s, every second child came to the carnival party dressed up as an Indian.

Today other disguises dominate.

Especially popular: princess, unicorn, ninja, dino, superhero.