In the wake of racial disparities that were underscored by COVID and the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans, families from all racial and ethnic backgrounds are grappling with how to discuss race and racism with their children. These topics are not easy to tackle. Some parents and caregivers have no choice but to discuss race in order to protect their children from racism. Others want to talk with their children to try to engender a sense of equity and fairness. These topics are complex and of course, may vary based on your own racial identity and life experiences. Although there is not a one-size-fits-all way to address such conversations, there are some high-quality resources that can help you engage with your kids. For example, PBS Kids helps you to consider How to Talk Honestly with Children about Racism. Sesame Street Workshop and NPR have a blog series titled Parenting: Difficult Conversations. In this series, they present a blog, Talking Race with Young Children. Writer Jessica Grose, suggests talking about racism with kids early and often and The Bump Blog shares this List of Children’s Books on Race and Antiracism.
Grade Level: Pre-K – Grade 5
Age Levels:
- Birth-36 months (infant/toddler)
- Pre-K 3-5 yrs (preschool)
- 5-6 yrs (kindergarten)
- 6-8 yrs (primary)
- 9-11 yrs (elementary)
Tags:
- Current Events
- Race, Racism
- Social-Emotional Learning
- Pre-K, Primary
Developer:
Beth Powers
Credit:
Creative Commons LicenseAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA
Credit: ConnectionSpot.org on 07/02/2020
