Talking to your kindergartner or young child about race can seem challenging, but it is part of the important work we need to do to ensure we build back a better America. These conversations need to happen regularly, even when we feel as though we don’t have the right answers. Here are some tips for how to explain race to your kindergartner that define what race is, and what it means to be anti-racist.
What is race: The importance of explaining the concept to kindergarten age students
Books to help teach compassion and fairness
Books like these are a great way to open up a conversation to help you with explaining race to your kindergartner:
Written by Ibram X. Kendi, AntiRacist Baby is a great introduction to race and fairness for young children.
Alexandra Penfold’s, All are Welcome helps children recognize and appreciate differences in skin color, culture, and backgrounds and explains how at the heart of it, we’re all quite similar.
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard approaches the topic of racial injustice as a result of a hate crime and helps to define racial discrimination for young children in a way they can understand.
Making an effort to invite diverse groups of people to your inner family circle and keeping lines of communication open go far to ensure that your child has the tools and support necessary to navigate the world around them. If your child has experienced racism or witnessed discrimination or racism at school, encourage them to talk through their feelings and to speak out against injustices.
