There’s more to raising anti-racist kids than just incorporating books and toys with black characters into your home. Here are some ideas on how parents can heal wounds and make society better:
- Talk to your children about how you think that everybody is capable of having thoughts they need to improve, including their thoughts about groups that are disadvantaged. Teach them that bias is not good, but is normal and something we all need to try to overcome.
- Ask your child whether they ever notice that they have a bias against some groups of people. If they do, don’t shame them; instead have them explore where they come from.
- Ask your children if they ever think that some adults in their circle of contacts (including you) have attitudes about some groups that are not completely fair.
- Have conversations with your children about the victim, perpetrator and bystander roles in large and small acts of bias. Discuss strategies for being an upstander and not just a bystander.
- Discuss bullying and how bullying sometimes is associated with issues of societal bias against some groups.
- Expose your children to the idea that different groups of Americans have different experiences of history, and how this may affect different groups’ current attitude toward the nation and its symbols.
- When discussing family history, promote pride in what your ancestors did, while encouraging a broad look at how your ancestors might have been looked at and looked at other groups who had different levels of advantage.
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