Encourage Kids to Appreciate Diversity
At Camp Kupugani, as a multicultural summer camp that is intentional in our empowerment and safely challenging our campers, we teach about and bleed diversity. It’s part of our mission and as such we are in a structurally and intentionally diverse environment.
But what can you do if you’re at home and not necessarily in a diverse and supportive environment? How then to facilitate those important lessons?
One article I checked out recently emphasizes: “Parents are uniquely positioned to guide their children to appreciate the differences that make each of us special. Explaining diversity in a way that is understandable to children can be a challenging process. Even when you have done your best to teach the importance of respect and treating others fairly, your child may still encounter hate and prejudice through the Internet and other forms of media, and even in their school or neighborhood. Teaching your child about appreciating diversity will help her/him do well in our diverse society, and promote good self-esteem and mental health.”
Another article has some good tips on what to do once kids start to comment about differences they notice in others.
- Listen to the language they use. If your child uses hurtful words, discuss why they’re hurtful. Explain why stereotypes don’t tell the whole story and can be divisive. External messages play an enormous role in how kids view others. Their impressions “are acquired by absorbing societal messages from the media, literature, toys and their surroundings, even in the absence of contact or parental instruction.”
- Parents, check your diversity deficits. Because children watch and listen, you should examine their own “diversity deficits.” Look around your neighborhood, your community and your interactions with others. How often does your family interact with people who are not like you? Here’s an interesting test to check what your “implicit biases” are.
- Make cultural awareness and inclusion messaging organic. The more you can regularly expose your child to artifacts, ideas and foods from other places, the more you can make “different” be “interesting” instead of “scary”.
- Don’t try to be “difference blind.” Instead, acknowledge the obvious when kids ask, then be sensitive to the messages you attach.Be honest about differences between people. Tell children that people are not all the same; Explain that we all experience the world in different ways and those experiences are important. Help your children to understand the viewpoints and ideas of others.
- Stretch your comfort zone. We still live in largely homogenous communities. It is not enough to simply visit cultural events, eat ethnic foods and thus learn about differences from a voyeuristic point of view.
- Here are a few ways to encourage cultural awareness and inclusion messaging in your family:
– Visit interactive, informative multi-cultural websites.
– Attend cultural events.
– Find age-appropriate shows that encourage multi-culturalism and inclusion.
– Encourage kids to sample ethnic foods.
– Read books that encompass a variety of perspectives.
Being an intentional parent isn’t easy–whatever the growth experience you’re trying to provide for your child. Being intentional around the topic of diversity can be a special challenge, just as it is at our all-girls camp and all-boys camp. It does require you to step outside your zone of comfort and breach the implicit racial barriers. Diversity not only allows you to learn about a different culture but for the simple sake of changing the world… Diversity provides a wide scope of different perspectives! Often times the idea of diversity is mistaken for only being a racial topic. The idea of diversity can encompass differences in gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, physical or mental disabilities, religious affiliation and so much more.
So…How will you choose to change your world?