Much of the fear that Black mums with young children carry is based on the belief that one day society will stop seeing their son as an innocent child and instead start to view him as a criminal or someone who’s done something deserving of punishment. When staff at Tia Stevenson’s* son’s nursery started to express concerns about one of his non-verbal signals, the 31-year-old suspected his race was a factor. "They would mention to me in passing that he would clap really hard and get very serious," she says. One day after picking him up she was approached by two members of staff who labelled her son’s behaviour as "aggressive" before asking if he is ever smacked at home. "He’s never been hit or smacked."