Appreciating Our Differences

May 2008

This month the Bay Area Discovery Museum is celebrating art and music from many different cultures. On a related note, Nurse Rona Renner, host of the radio show Childhood Matters and the parenting expert for the museum, suggests ways to help children understand and appreciate diversity.

Q. While watching a TV show, my 7 year old pointed out all his favorite characters, noticeably excluding the two kids of different ethnicities.   Has he already learned prejudice?

A. Very young children usually don’t notice ethnicity.  If you ask them what color another child is and that child is wearing, for example, a purple shirt, your preschooler is likely to say the other kid is purple.  But by age 6 and certainly by age 7, children tend to be more aware of differences, and will often choose to play with people most like themselves. 

Exposing kids to people from different cultures gives them a foundation for understanding that we don’t all look alike or speak the same language. If you live in a neighborhood where there is little cultural or racial diversity, you might consider making a conscious effort to go to events to see dance or hear music from other cultures.  Or explore the work of ethnic artists, like the art of people from the Gullah that will be featured at the museum later this month.  You can also take out books from the library to find out about people who come from different parts of the world.

Learning about differences in family structure, values and rituals early on will encourage kids to embrace and accept others, and help reduce the hurtful consequences of prejudice and racism.

Adults set the tone when it comes to acceptance or judgment of differences. Continue to pay attention to what your child is saying and notice how you talk about people from different backgrounds. If you’re interested in learning more about racial and ethnic identity in young children, I highly recommend the book I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla by Marguerite Wright.

Rona Renner, RN, hosts the parenting radio show Childhood Matters, every Sunday from 9-10 AM on 98.1 KISS-FM. Have a question about parenting? Email asknurserona@badm.org