Chinese parents: what are you teaching your chinese preschool age children about racism?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Is there a double standard we should be talking about? |
Anonymous
| My kids are mixed white/Asian. Eldest is 7. I won’t be bullied into having developmentally inappropriate convos with my kids and the social media push for it is alarming. |
Anonymous
| lol |
Anonymous
| I showed my 10 y.o. the rolls royce SUV being used as a looter vehicle. I told her she must work hard in order to afford that type of vehicle. |
Anonymous
| We are Vietnamese and yes we discuss racism. Why wouldn't we? |
Anonymous
| I bought a bunch of books, but I don’t know that my preschooler will really understand anything. I’ll focus on teaching him to just be nice to everybody and that some people are mean to people who don’t look like them. |
Anonymous
Ha, ha, ha! Thanks, I needed a good laugh. I am debating on whether to go loot for a new Chanel purse or save for it. |
Anonymous
I have a mixed race kid, too, and I hope you’re trolling us. You really have a 7 year old and you’re a mixed-race family and don’t talk to them about racism? There are tons of ways to handle this in a developmentally appropriate way for ALL ages and you know this. Come on! |
Anonymous
| We are multi-racial family and my 7yo half-Asian DS is still very innocent and we all watch news together. I have been subject to racist comments from both black and white people so I really don't know what to say to my kids specifically on race. I do teach them to be honest, work hard and be kind to everyone and good and bad people come in all colors and shapes. I personally abhor violence and I just can't stand behind how Minneapolis can loot and burn their own grocery stores and put so many families at risk. |
Anonymous
I’m not sure if you’re the poster above who said you don’t talk about race or if you’re a different poster. I think you can start from a place of explaining what racism is and sharing your personal experience. I will say that my personal experience has both made me part of a culture that tacitly accepts racism. My family is Asian and i grew up in a family where you weren’t supposed to talk about racism because my parents wanted us to fit in with the white kids and be successful. I will also say that there were very racist comments made about anyone who was not Asian in my house, but it was done in my native language so I didn’t realize how nasty and awful the English translation was until I was much older. It’s important that if you’ve had racist comments directed towards yourself, you don’t use that as an excuse to be racist toward others (not saying you are, but that is often the excuse used in my specific Asian culture). Some people will say that watching the news with a kid is a bad idea, but I think it’s a good one. Shielding kids from reality is unfair both to them and to the children that face racism every single day. I also recommend the 6/2 episode of Lester Holt’s NBC News Kids Edition. It’s on YouTube. He’s been doing a great job of explaining coronavirus to kids and is doing a good job talking about racism and the protests, too. |
Anonymous
|
PP here, one more thought: I think most people abhor violence and looting and burning things. You are not special or morally superior for taking that stance. “Minneapolis” as an entire city did not loot and burn itself, just a few people did.
How we are addressing it with my very young children is to talk about what happens when you try to work out a problem. At school, they have to use their words. Sometimes they argue or struggle physically, and a teacher intervenes and helps them work it out. And there are rules so that things don’t escalate. But we’ve talked about how some rules in this country were set up to be unfair and no one stopped someone who did something that was wrong, and someone using their words didn’t work, so people didn’t have any words left to use, and it’s not ok but it happened. I know it’s an oversimplification but it helped my littler kids understand a bit better. |
Anonymous
| I am appalled at some of these posters who aren't taking this question seriously. Do you really think children should not be taught about racism or is there something funny about teaching American Chinese kids about racism? I don't know what the answer is myself, but I do think it is a combination of teaching generally teaching our kids to be kind, accepting, and nonjudgmental of every person, regardless of skin color or socioeconomic background etc. To And also recognizing the deep racism that runs through Chinese and Asian communities as well, especially towards the black community. The second part may be a conversation that you have later on, not while they are preschool age, but I am Chinese American and recognize both the racism that Chinese Americans or immigrants can face, as well as the racism they spew. |
Anonymous
About the police murders and race riots? No. I don’t need to have a special racism chat with my kids. They attend a diverse school and we talk about racial issues as they arise. Nothing about this moment is appropriate for my kids, though. We keep to to their scale and in the context of their own lives. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| nothing. way too young |