Traci Schmidley's home-school group in rural Coushatta, La. — her children and those of friends — was enjoying an ice cream party this month when one of the flavors sparked a discussion.

The name and design of Blue Bell's chocolate-and-vanilla offering, dubbed "The Great Divide," reminded 8-year-old history buff Kaleb of a subject he had recently learned about.

"Looking at the container, he called it the Civil War flavor," Schmidley said. "The line reminded him how families were divided in the war along the Mason-Dixon line, and he added that the colors were white and brown."

Schmidley did not want to waste a learning opportunity.

"We talked about how that was a divisive time in American history and the progress we've made since then," she said.

Schmidley then gave the children the task of thinking of a name that would more accurately represent the present day.

The children went to their classroom for about 20 minutes, and came out with the name "Better Together," the idea of 10-year-old Isak.

At the prompting of another student, 11-year-old Jayden, Schmidley shared the idea on Facebook as an open letter to the makers of Blue Bell. She woke up the next morning to thousands of notifications.

Schmidley thought the post would make another good lesson: If it reached Blue Bell, it could show the kids the power of social media.

The initial feedback was all positive, Schmidley said. Other multiracial families — like the Schmidleys, who have six children, two of whom are adopted — commented with photos and the hashtag #BetterTogether.

As the story gained steam, however, Schmidely received more criticism. Some commenters took issue with the association between ice cream flavors and race. Others called the family too easily offended.

"I've been called racist, pot-stirring, being divisive, a lot of profanity," Schmidley said. "Our intention is to be unifying. We don't want to cause division."

The post did eventually get to Blue Bell, which reached out to Schmidley by phone. She called the representatives "incredibly supportive" and said the company's president planned to speak to the children soon.

"We were amazed when we read the letter, by their thoughtfulness and their compassion for all people, and we are humbled by their love of our ice cream," Blue Bell spokeswoman Jenny Van Dorf said in an email. "We are so impressed by them and commend Traci for providing the environment where an important conversation like this can take place."

"We love the idea of 'better together' and especially the thoughtful sentiment behind it," she added.

CORRECTION, 9:45 p.m. June 15: An earlier version of this story misidentified the ages of Isak and Kaleb. Isak is 10 and Kaleb is 8.