When we hear “Anti-Racism” or even “Anti-Bias” it may sound too BIG or scary to tackle, especially when thinking about teaching our children. I don’t know about you, but I constantly see “I will teach my babies to love your babies” on every social media site.
But what does that look like?
I want to clarify that I am by no means an “expert”. My background in this is passion, a teaching credential for elementary education, I am in my 3rd semester of a Master’s degree in Equity and Diversity in Education, and my husband and daughter are Black. I gain my knowledge through education, reading experiences of People of Color, my experience of being a wife and mother, and asking lots of questions.
There are so many resources that are easily accessible, and there are so many beautiful humans on various social media networks that spend countless hours educating people for free. If you want to do a deep dive on this topic it won’t be hard to find resources.
As for now, here are some starting points!
- Watch your reactions towards things/people that scare you. Before you can teach your children, you need to analyze some parts about yourself. Many people have hate in their hearts and actions because of fear. How do you react when you are scared? This could be as simple as killing a bug instantly because it scares you. Or steering your kids away from someone on the street. Why are you doing these things? Explain them to your children. “We killed that bug because it is a Black Widow spider and it can hurt us.”
- Introduce different cultures and people to your children through books, movies, tv shows, and pictures. The media that is introduced to your children should have diverse characters. These characters should not only be diverse in ethnicity and race but also family structures, gender roles, etc. Picture books are such a gentle way of introducing new topics.
- Let your babies ask questions! They do not know what is a “right” or “wrong” question, they will phrase it how it makes the most sense to them. Gently correct and answer if it was phrased inappropriately; but other than that, be a safe space for your children to ask questions.
