I read this post a few hours ago and have been reflecting on it ever since as I dont know which way to answer this.

Parent head on: As I and my children would be the foreigners and so bare the brunt of "the most common racist insult" surely seeing out a way of avoiding such situations makes sense?

Logical head on: To me your argument actually confirms that of the comment of Lady Longford. Aka... To prevent your children from racial abuse, dont let them stand out from the crowd (in this instance smell different) which you have pointed out IS a problem.

So I do not feel the best method of dealing with these things are to ignore them or not speak about them or repeat them, as then I am doing myself and my children a disservice.

Until your post I actually thought my opening gambit had a banal rational; that uncle max, mark and the other posters in this thread were right. That it really isnt a problem as kids all have maccie D's in common.

You base your argument on highlighting that smelling different brings foreigners into common conflict with locals and I see this as something relevant and now a cause of concern, as I do not ever want my very well travelled, broad minded, free thinking kids to encounter narrowminded bigotry of this kind.

Thanks for opening my eyes to such problems.