Reply to How to talk race and diversity with a preschooler?

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[quote=Anonymous]Does anyone have tips on how to begin talking about race and diversity with preschool-aged kids? DS is 3.5 and has suddenly become very focused on differences and making broad statements like "what color will the haircutter be? If he has light skin I will like him, but if he has dark skin I will not," or "If the kids [at a party he was going to] have light skin I will play with them."

Now, we live in an urban area and are surrounded by diversity--we are white, but our block includes Asian American, African, and Indian neighbors (all loved by DS since babyhood). DS' best friend at school is African American, one of his two favorite teachers is Latino, and he has plenty of of classmates and teachers who run the racial/ethnic spectrum. So where the heck is this coming from?!? I can't imagine that it's school, and certainly not from home...?? He doesn't watch television and honestly doesn't have that much exposure to people other than us, our friends, or his classmates/teachers. We've talked about how his statements make no sense in light of the many friends and adults he knows and loves who are people of color, but he still seems to be dwelling on this.

Any favorite books or other tips for helping him navigate this? I know it's normal for preschoolers to notice and question differences (and certainly don't want to quell that curiosity) but we are especially concerned that he seems to have decided having light or dark skin has some value associated with it (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that is the reality in the real world, but we're trying to at least start him off with some core values about equality!) [/quote]

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