Certain crucial lessons for children begin in the home and much, if not all, of what children learn at school may be reinforced at home. Diversity is no exception. There are certain holidays during which schools emphasize diversity. For example, Black History Month in February is focused on the many contributions of African Americans, while September 15 to October 15 is Latinx Heritage Month, where the focus is on individuals from or with ancestry from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. However, diversity need not only be discussed on specified holidays. Diversity should be celebrated often and weaved into everyday life so that children may be raised with awareness and viewing diversity as positive and part of everyday life. Research shows that positive diversity beliefs may help in many ways such as by decreasing conflict and fostering cooperation. It is also of note that diversity is not only restricted to ethnic diversity. There is gender diversity, religious diversity, persons with disabilities, and many other diversities. For the purposes of this piece, we will focus on ethnic diversity.
Research shows that an individual’s experiences with diversity will influence their beliefs about diversity. For instance, an individual raised cross-culturally will have their beliefs about culture impacted by this experience. There is a subset of children who have had the unique experience of being raised cross-culturally. These children have been termed by researchers as cross-culture (CCK) or third culture kids (TCK). CCK kids encompasses a subgroup such as children of refugees or children of immigrants and are defined as children who have lived in and meaningfully interacted with two or more cultures for a significant period of their childhood. TCK usually move to another country due to their parent’s work duties and spend a significant portion of their formative years in another culture. CCK and TCK have been found to have more positive cultural beliefs, intercultural competences, and intercultural sensitivity than children who have not had these cultural experiences. Positive cultural beliefs, intercultural competency, and intercultural sensitivity in turn have been shown to be protective factors for these children as adults in the workplace.
For children who have not had the experience of CCK and TCK, how can we foster diversity? Here is a short but not by any means exhaustive list to foster diversity in children.
- Encourage children to discuss what makes them special. Provide children with developmentally appropriate language to express themselves. Allowing children to talk about their attributes positive or negative allows them important space to discuss how they feel about themselves and they will learn to do the same about others.
- Encourage children to ask question. Guide them so that these are asked in sensitive ways.
- Support conversations about stereotypes and biases. Children have the capacity to have these conversations very early on in their development. Having such conversations early on may decrease the likelihood that children will adopt biases and stereotypes.
- Express genuine positive interest in other cultures, traditions and/or languages. You may say things like “Wow that is so interesting!” when you see or learn about something new.
- Set a good example. As a parent you are your child’s primary role model. Be sure to set as good example as possible. Don’t forget our children are watching even when we don’t realize they are.
- Remind children that they have the power to create change. Children may not realize the power they hold and the ways they can use it. Sometimes by the simple act of befriending someone or interfering in the bullying of someone “different” by telling the teacher can make a huge difference. Although they are small, by using their words they can make a world of change.
There are several tools at your disposal to help your child learn about diversity. There is bibliotherapy, play, movies, and many others. For example, to learn about some Latinx traditions you may want to watch Disney’s Encanto, Coco, or The Book of Life. You can follow the movie with arts and crafts such as making mini pinatas How To Make Mini Pull Pinatas! - YouTubeopens in new window or paper fiesta flowers Paper Flower Tutorial - Day of the Dead Crafts (desumama.com)opens in new window. On any day, you can choose a recipe from anywhere in the world to expose your child to different cultures via their cuisine. Take this activity to the next level and learn a new language as a family activity.
Other fun diversity activities for children can include making inclusive portraits using different paints to represent skin tones. There are now crayons to more accurately represent skin tones of individuals of color. It could be fun for children to draw self-portraits and portraits of others and discuss similarities and differences. Discussing hair and hair textures may be another topic of discussion. The following are some books you may be interested in: All the Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger, The Colors of Us by Karen Katz, Hair like Mine by Latashia M. Perry, and I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley.
Explicitly talk about race especially if your child has questions. For more information and resources, go to Div. 37's anti-racism resources.