It's never too early to teach young children about diversity, tolerance and equality.
Description: A youngster came home from his first day of pre-school enthusing over the wonderful qualities of his new made friend. He spoke about how friendly and sharing he was and how much fun they had. His older brother asked what his new friend looked like. What was the color of his hair? "Brown," was the answer. What color eyes? "Brown," was the answer. What color skin? The pre-schooler thought and thought and then said, "I don't know. I'll look tomorrow."
Children are not born with prejudices. They have to learn them. What we do and what we say in the privacy of our homes and in public have powerful influences on our children. We either teach them to be racists and bigots or we teach them to accept and welcome diversity and equality.
You can begin teaching your child about differences at a young age. Show your child a brown egg and a white egg. Observe the eggs together before breaking them open. The message is clear. While the eggs are different on the outside, they are the same on the inside, just like people.
As your child gets older you can buy dolls and action figures of different colors. Have your child point out all of the things the dolls have in common and all of the things that are different. Try some playacting with the dolls. Ask questions such as, "Do they all feel sad sometimes?" "If they all fell down, would they all feel hurt?"
Step by Step:
Be aware of your own actions and reactions when dealing with people of other cultures, races and religions. Your child will "pick up" on how you feel from your physical response, as well as your words.
Get books from the library that feature other races and cultures, read them to your child and discuss what you read.
Try to develop friendships with people of other cultures and races.
Learn to cook some recipes from other cultures and discuss the differences between what you usually cook and the new dish.
If you and your child see and hear inappropriate behavior from others, discuss this with your child, when you get home.
When appropriate, tell your children about some of our civil rights leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, a minister, advocate of nonviolence and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, who believed in the dignity of all races and peoples.
Materials: Library books Brown and white eggs Various dolls
