How to teach kids diversity

When toddlers start preschool, they join the larger social community. They begin interacting more with different people outside their families and learning about other cultures. Experts believe that delaying a conversation about race and diversity can do more harm than good as children begin to notice gender and racial differences at about two years of age. So, it is essential to teach our children tolerance, acceptance, and compassion from the earliest age.

Why is it important to teach children diversity?

Teaching children about cultural diversity is essential if we want to live in a society that values equality, acceptance, and justice for all. The first five years of life are marked by rapid and radical developmental changes in the brain, allowing children to learn about the world around them and their place in it from a very young age. In other words, young children internalize social messages from their parents, caregivers, early childhood educators, and other adults throughout daily interactions and by observing the behaviour we model for them. Such messages can have lifelong consequences for a child and a whole society. Diversity activities teach young kids to understand, respect, and celebrate the differences among people. You can address all types of differences such as gender, race, religion, and culture this way. Such activities help children understand that we are all humans, despite our individual differences and backgrounds. There are different ways to expose your children to diversity and instil a sense of tolerance and acceptance in them. Books are one of the great diversity activities to introduce in your home or classroom.

Diversity Books

Once, while playing the Guess Who board game, I had a conversation with a preschooler who asked me whether my person had “normal” skin. I told the child that both skins were normal; one was lighter and one was darker but both normal and unique.

Kids are naturally curious and eager to learn about the world around them.

However, working in the childcare field, I realized there was a minimal selection of books that taught children about diversity. Since most kids show genuine interest in books and stories, reading books like Two Little Hearts can be a great way to teach your child about diversity. Additionally, reading helps preschoolers learn the letters and get to know the sounds, words, and language, which is the groundwork for early literacy skills development. So, why not tap into your child’s inborn curiosity and interest in storytelling and introduce age-appropriate board books about diversity? Two Little Hearts is a story about two babies’ similarities and differences. My goal was to communicate that we are all valued and loved through an age-appropriate story young children can easily relate to. Two Little Hearts introduces a diversity concept that might seem confusing to young learners naturally and spontaneously and in an ageappropriate way. Reading Two Little Hearts together can be a great way to spend quality time and bond with your child while teaching them empathy, understanding, and acceptance. By Emma Dunstan. thetwolittlehearts.com