4 simple ways to teach young children about representation
Parents may have the best intentions when it comes to raising children who understand the importance of representation and who embrace diversity, but the window they have to shape their fundamental values and beliefs Their time before prejudice begins to form is surprisingly short.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), by age 2, children begin to internalize racial bias. And by the time they’re 12 or so, many kids have essentially “established” their beliefs.
However, there are relatively simple, practical steps parents can take to help teach really young children (think babies and toddlers) to appreciate diversity and that can help them as they enter a world marred by systemic inequality.
Have a child at home? Here are four strategies to consider now.
Expose children to different types of faces.
Experts now know that babies recognize differences when they are really, really new. Like, by the time they’re 6 months old , babies’ brains can notice racial differences in the people they meet.
“We know from studies of infant attention that infants can distinguish black faces from white faces,” said Sandra Waxman , a developmental scientist and professor of psychology at the University of Northwestern, who has spent years studying what babies think and how they learn about the world around them. “They can tell the female from the male.”
Và trẻ sơ sinh thể hiện “sở thích tìm kiếm” mạnh mẽ đối với các loại khuôn mặt mà chúng tiếp xúc thường xuyên nhất, Waxman nói.
Điều đó không có nghĩa là trẻ sơ sinh thiên vị theo bất kỳ cách nào. Hoặc những sở thích đặc biệt mà một đứa trẻ có lúc 6 tháng tuổi được “truyền tải ý nghĩa”, Sandy nói.
Tuy nhiên, đó là điều mà cha mẹ cần lưu ý, nếu không vì lý do nào khác ngoài việc nó có thể khiến bạn điều chỉnh xem mạng xã hội của riêng bạn có đa dạng và đa văn hóa như bạn thực sự muốn khi con bạn lớn lên và học tập nhiều bằng cách làm mẫu cho bạn hay không.
Load them up with diverse books. (Including those in which diversity isn’t the “point.”)
Children’s books still have a long way to go, but publishers have done a better job in recent years of putting out picture books that are filled with characters who are racially diverse, who have disabilities, who have diverse body types, and that feature LGBTQ characters.
“As Rudine Sims Bishop notes, we need ‘window, mirror, and sliding door’ books,” explained Erin Walsh, co-founder of the Spark and Stitch Institute, which teaches parents strategies for navigating a digital world. “Because we need stories in which children can see reflections of themselves, but also look through and see other worlds.”
It’s a mistake if your kiddos’ library seems diverse, but it’s only filled with books about oppression and injustice (“this reinforces narrow understanding of people’s lived experiences,” Walsh explained). It’s also important to read your kiddo plenty of “any child” books, which are diverse but the characters’ identity is not central to the plot.
That may be particularly true of books for babies and toddlers, which are obviously very simple narratively. Representation matters even for the youngest readers, and there’s no reason why, say, board counting books should feature characters who are predominately white.
Look at what they’re playing with.
Given that young children learn so much through play — sharpening language, social, physical and cognitive skills — it is important to try and fill their toy bins with diverse options.
“Children learn and create understanding of the world through play. Many parents focus on shows and books, but children’s toys, dolls, and action figures are opportunities to disrupt stereotypes and/or reflect children’s similarities and differences,” Walsh said.
Babies don’t really tune into what they’re gumming or drooling over, but toddlers and preschoolers certainly notice what they’re playing with every day.
There are limits to all of this, of course. Simply expanding your child’s access to multicultural, gender-neutral toys will not make them immune to broader cultural stereotypes.
“Our job as parents is to make sure they don’t learn bias — but the point of fact is that it’s well nigh impossible,” Wexman said. Try anyway, she urged.
Talk, talk, talk.
Because biases set in sooner than some parents realize, they may be putting off conversations around representation, diversity, equity, inclusion — all of it — longer than you should. Start young. Like, when they’re toddlers or preschoolers .
Waxman said it’s not parents’ fault that their children are living in an unequal world where they will be steeped in racist, sexist and ableist messages. “What is our fault is when we don’t address it,” she said.
And there is plenty of evidence that so-called colorblindness, and other approaches that teach children “not to see difference” do not work . Children do see the ways in which we are all different, and teaching young children not to ask questions sends the message that difference is taboo.
Again, all of these are small steps and a small piece of a much larger puzzle. But they are also actionable, and Waxman said that in many ways with young kids, the goal is simple: Just help “normalize that people are different.”
This story is part of a HuffPost Parents project called I See Me , a series for all parents and kids on the power of representation. We know how important it is for kids to see people that look like them on the biggest stages, from politics to sports and entertainment and beyond. Throughout February, we’ll explore the importance of representation in teaching kids about difference, acceptance, privilege and upstanding.