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Embracing Diversity

The Science

Infants and toddlers are like sponges, observing the world around them and absorbing everything they see and hear. At just 2 months old, your baby will begin to recognize your face as their primary caregiver. At 3 months, your baby will begin to recognize other objects or faces, such as their favorite book or toy. Your child will become comfortable and familiar with these faces and objects as they are regularly exposed to them. In addition to this recognition of familiarity, infants as young as 6 months begin to categorize people by both gender and race – recognizing differences in skin color and hair textures. Even though your child is not able to ask questions, he or she will begin drawing conclusions about racial diversity as they observe the world around them.

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Young children’s racial beliefs are heavily influenced by their environments. In less diverse environments, less exposure to diverse groups results in fewer conversations about diversity and, in turn, provides more room for prejudice. As parents, introducing racial diversity to very young children within these critical years can help your child to understand and form positive outlooks about racial differences from an early age. If we don’t take the time to help our children understand racial diversity, they are left to formulate their own conclusion about what “different” means – these conclusions can often reinforce biases. When we are intentional, we can impact the way that our children see, categorize, and derive value about race.

Ages 6 months to 1 year

Studies show that babies as young as 6 months old can recognize differences in skin color and hair textures. At such an impressionable age, parents can begin teaching their children in their day to day life. Consider expanding your child’s library to include a diverse selection of books. Ensure that your children’s toys represent all skin tones.

Additionally, do your best to expose your child to a diverse environment. It's important for kids to see their parents interact socially with people of other racial and ethnic groups. While it’s important to talk about physical differences (hair type, skin and eye color, and even height), you should also call attention to the special talents inherent in diversity – For example: “Everybody is special, and so-and-so is special because his family can speak another language.”

Ages 2 to 3

As children become more vocal, it is not unusual for a child to begin asking questions about the diversity they see around them – including expressing interest in the differences they see in skin tone, etc. This age is a good time to explore people's physical differences through play-based learning: When you're playing with toys point out various physical attributes: "This doll has a hat on, that one doesn't; this one has dark skin, that one doesn't."

A few things to remember:

- Be proactive, helping them build a positive awareness of diversity.

- Don't shush or shut them down if they mention race.

- Don't wait for kids to bring it up.

- When a child experiences prejudice, grown-ups need to both address the feelings and fight the prejudices.

- Parents: Take time to self-reflect on your own lived experiences and how they might impact your actions.

Advocating and exposing children to diversity requires active promotion. It is through daily interactions and observations that young children attribute meaning to race, culture, and other forms of diversity.

Cited Resource: Parents

Videos

Watch some of our favorite educational videos on embracing diversity.

Sesame Street: I Love My Hair

Sing along and make the world aware that YOU love your hair!

How to Talk to Kids About Race

“The worst conversation adults can have with kids about race is no conversation at all,” says author Jemar Tisby. “Talking to kids about race needs to happen early, often, and honestly.” In a new episode of Home School, The Atlantic’s animated series about parenting, Tisby offers advice on how to have a conversation with children about race, from experiential learning to watching classic animated films.

Is My Skin Brown Because I Drank Chocolate Milk? | Beverly Daniel Tatum | TEDxStanford

When her 3-year-old son told her that a classmate told him that his skin was brown because he drank chocolate milk, Dr. Tatum, former president of Spelman College and a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service, was surprised. As a clinical psychologist, she knew that preschool children often have questions about racial difference, but she had not anticipated such a question. But through conversations with her preschool son, followed by talking to teachers, colleagues, and parents, she came to realize it is the things we don’t say and the matters we don’t discuss with our children that find their way into racist dialogue and thinking.

Sometimes You're A Caterpillar

Sometimes You're A Caterpillar

Common Questions

When do children distinguish the differences in race?
Infants as young as 6 months old are able to nonverbally categorize people by race and gender.
How can I best approach the topic of race with my child?
The idea of race is often a highly charged and sensitive topic in the adult world. This is not necessarily so among young children. Children are open and curious about the world and want to understand similarities and differences. Parents are encouraged to approach the topic of race openly and without boundaries.
At what age do children form a racial bias?
Toddlers as young as two years old express a racial bias.
What is implicit bias?
An implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.
What is racial bias?
We have a bias when, rather than being neutral, we have a preference for (or aversion to) a person or group of people. Racial bias refers to when the preference/aversion is based on the color of one’s skin.
When should I start teaching/speaking to my children about diversity?
Children are never too young to begin a dialogue about diversity. Create an environment where your child can learn about the differences AND similarities between people of different races, cultures, etc. at a very early age.
What should you do when your child points out a difference in other children?
Around the age of 2- 3, your child might begin to vocalize the differences they notice in people around them: “Why does so-and-so’s skin look different than mine?” or “Why does so-and-so talk funny?”. You should always reply in a calm, positive tone when responding to your child, "Yes, our friend does have different colored skin than ours. It might not look the same as yours, but it's a really nice color too." Or “Our friend is speaking [insert language], a beautiful language from [insert country] that she and her family speak.”

Resources

Activities

Create a diverse library
Diversify your toys
Skin Colored Playdough
  • Description: Who doesn’t love playdough? Whip up a batch of this super simple DIY
  • skin-colored playdough and spend the afternoon creating your community out of playdough. Be intentional about creating different shades of each color. While you play, talk with your child about the uniqueness of each person. Remind your child why our
  • skin color varies. Be sure to check out this post for the full recipe and conversation guide.
M&M Exploration
  • Description:

    Step 1: Open a pack of M&Ms and ask your child to explore them. How many different colors are there? How many total M&Ms are there?

    Step 2: Have your child separate the candies by color.

    Step 3: Conduct a taste testing of each color.

    Step 4: Ask your child, do the different colors have different tastes? Why not?

    Step 5: Explain that people are similar. Although we all look different on the outside, we are made of the same ingredients on the inside. The M&M is made of chocolate. We are made of skin, bones, blood, organs, etc. No matter what someone looks like on the outside, they have the same (biological) ingredients as you do on the inside.

Learning From Crayons
  • Description:

    “We could learn a lot from crayons… (They) all are different colors, but they all exist very nicely in the same box.” -Source Unknown

    Step 1: Give your child a sheet of construction paper and a crayon of the same color.

    Step 2: Ask him or her to draw you a picture. Within a few seconds, your child will begin to complain that the crayon “doesn’t work”.

    Step 3: Ask your child why he or she thinks the crayon isn’t working and how we could solve the problem. If he or she isn’t sure, give some tips. Encourage him or her to try the crayon on a different color of paper, or to use a different color of crayon. Once the child sees that the crayon is “working” take a look at the crayon box and begin a conversation that goes something like this: “Isn’t it good that we have all these different colors? Imagine if we only had one color in the whole world .. then we wouldn’t be able to draw! People are very similar. If all people looked and thought alike, our world wouldn’t work either. It is good that the world has a variety of people. Sometimes people get upset with one another because we look and think differently. We have to learn to be like the crayons a get along together, even though we are different. We can make much prettier pictures when we work together and use all of the colors.”

Self Portraits
  • Description:

    For this activity, you can use just a regular sheet of paper. Using your crayons (make sure you have a variety of skin-colored crayons) draw self-portraits. Encourage your child to accurately portray themselves as much as possible. Keep this age-appropriate- Encourage them to select a crayon that matches the skin and hair they actually have – you can help them draw this. If your child chooses a color that doesn’t accurately represent him or her, don’t scold or correct but ask why he or she chose that color. It could be that he chose green because it is his favorite color or he wanted to be the Hulk that day. Be sure to draw your own portrait of your child and compare the two drawings.

    After drawing a self-portrait, encourage your child to draw one or two family members or friends. When the drawings are finished, take some time to talk about what is unique or special about each person.

The Egg Experiment
  • Description:

    This is a great science-related activity about racial diversity.

    Step 1: Purchase white eggs and brown eggs.

    Step 2: Place one of each on the table and allow your child to explore the eggs using their five senses. Ask your child guiding questions like: What color are these two eggs? Why do you think one is brown and one is white? Is there any difference in how they feel or smell? Do you think they look different on the inside?

    Step 3: Break the eggs and again use the five senses to explore. (Cook the eggs to taste them.)

    The conversation: Do you know why some eggs are brown and some are white? White eggs are laid by white-feathered chickens and while brown eggs are laid by red-feathered chickens. Just like these eggs, our outside (skin) might look different from one another but our insides are the same.

What color paint are you?
  • Description:

    Even within the same family, skin color varies. We want to help children realize that these variances are a normal part of life.

    Step 1: Head to your local hardware store and explore the paint chips section.

    Step 2: Find the paint-chip that most closely matches your skin color.

    Step 3: “Rename” your skin tone using the name of the paint color that matches your skin. Instead of just being white, brown, or black we can become Winthrop Peach, Cinnamon Brandy, or Sarsparilla.

    While playing with paint chips, ask your child:

    - How does having a fun name for your skin color make you feel?

    - Should we find a funny name for your hair/eyes/clothes too?

    - Do you see how many different colors are here? Did you realize there were so many colors in the world?

    - Remind your child that skin color is another feature that makes us unique, just like hair and eye color, no two people are exactly the same.