This Scribble was penciled by Abbey Flesner, Speech & Language Therapist at The Children’s Place.

 

Expose Your Little One

It has been found that children as young as 2 years old use race to reason about people’s behaviours (Hirschfiel, 2008). Therefore, it is important to start providing your little one with positive information about the world early on.

Exposing your child to a more varied world will help them gain better insight and understanding of the beautiful differences they will encounter as they grow on this diverse planet.

Here are some simple ways to promote a diverse and conscious environment for your little one:

 

Outings

Take your little one to cultural exhibits and museums that explore a variety of races, cultures, and religions.

Here are some examples of exhibits around the world, which provided your child insight to where other people come from, what people around the world are fighting for, and issues from the past that we can learn from today:

  • The Museum of London Docklands has a permanent exhibit called London, Sugar & Slavery, which walks you through the transatlantic slave trade and plantations where enslaved men, women, and children worked.
  • The Victoria & Albert Museum, also in London, has an exhibit dedicated to learning about a variety of religions.
  • The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba allows visitors the ability to listen to personal stories and see what it’s like for those fighting for their rights.
  • The Corrie Ten Boom House in the Netherlands (similar to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam) is a place where children can learn about Jewish families and the injustice during the second World War.
  • The Smithsonian Institute runs has the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., where children can learn about America’s indigenous people, make crafts and experience a drum circle performed by Native Americans.
  • Although they are not museums, visiting one of the many Chinatowns around the world is a great way to expose your child to not only great food, but also Chinese temples, banks, bookstores, schools, tea houses, ornate shrines and traditional decorations.
  • The Empathy Museum allows you to ‘walk a mile’ in someone else’s shoes. The best part is that this museum travels around with instalments in various cities. Click here to see if there is one travelling near you.

 

Books

If you can not physically take your child to diverse spaces, bring diversity to them through the world of books. Choose books that include multicultural characters, take place in different countries and continents or celebrate tolerance.

Find a list of children’s books below that do just that.

 

Toys

Provide an inclusive toy box that promotes diversity in ethnic, gender, ability statuses and religious identities. When children see and play with diverse toys, it not only allows them to have a more robust sense of the world but also nurtures compassion. 

  • Your child will most likely come across someone in a wheelchair or another disability. These Friends with Diverse Abilities Dolls can help you open up conversations about challenges other people may face and how to be an inclusive ally.
  • These Professional Dolls help spread positive identity across a variety of professions, proving that anyone can have a career in whichever profession they are inspired by.
  • Buying your child Ethnic Dolls will help expand their understanding of the variety of people and demographic backgrounds they will come across in this world.

  • Puzzles help kids with hand-eye coordination, visual motor, matching, attention and more. Why not add promoting diversity to the list? Here is a great puzzle for older kids and one more suitable for younger children that share a variety of faces and traditional clothing from different races.
  • Give your child the chance to add variety to the skin tones in their drawings with People of Colour Crayons.
  • This World of Memory Game helps children pair together similar cultural styles and ethnicities.

 

By diversifying your child’s environment, you are building a more representational picture of the world and opening up avenues of love and compassion that will help shape your child into a more inclusive adult.

 

Remember

  • Think Different: It is important we all think in different ways to help raise awareness and make impactful changes.

           Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. – Rob Siltanen

  • Tailor Made: We are all tailor made and are born different. This is what makes the world go round. If everyone was the same, it would be a pretty boring world.

          Today you are you that is truer than true no one is alive that is you’re than you.  – Dr. Seuss

  • Family Matters: What we are teaching within our families and how we support others matters.

          Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. – Ryunosuke Satoro

  • Details Matter: This includes the small details—such as which toys our little ones play with, which books they read and which crafts they make—help to shape them as individuals.

          To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest details  – Giorgio Arman

  • Believe in Smiles: The power of smiles is proven by research! Spread the love for all of our differences by even sharing a smile.

          Remember, you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine. – Snow White