We live in a complicated world today that is rapidly evolving, faster than we can catch up. Not just technological advances but the distance between people and their cultures is reducing every day. It’s not surprising to find more people of different ethnicities move into your neighbourhood.
It’s a sign of a thriving culture that needs to be accepted with open arms. That’s why it’s necessary that the next generation is more aware than ever about racism, racial bias, and an inclusive culture.
As children grow in a cosmopolitan society, they will have more questions in this regard and it’s always better to train them right from the start.
In fact, the world around us already biased in how we perceive different people that subconsciously gets passed on to the children. Babies can make basic distinctions between colours and shapes. By the age of two, they understand compassion and fairness.
By the age of three and four, they learn about natural bias and by the age of five, their mind becomes a concoction of all they’ve learnt over the years to create either a compassionate human or a racist one.
There is no place for racism in the new world and you can ensure your children grow up to be the former by conducting anti bias activities in the house according to their age.
Anti Bias Activities For Kids Up To 12 Months
Babies start to identify shapes and colours before they turn one and that’s good a time to heighten their sensory experiences. You can start by introducing them to different faces in all colours.
- Read to them from books where the protagonist looks different from the child and yourself.
- It’s also a good time to play music from across the world and different genres. Trust us, it’ll be pure bliss for you and the baby. No more ‘baby shark’ on loop.
- If your baby is being cared for at daycare, he is also more likely to be friends with children of different ethnicities. At the same time, be inclusive of having kids from different cultures in your playgroup.
- And finally, ensure you put up the ideal behaviour. Your little one may not be able to speak yet but he watches your every move. He is more likely to mimic the same as well.
So, be more responsible about your behaviour around people of other cultures and the way you address them at home.
Anti Bias Activities For Kids Up To 2 Years
This is an interesting age as your infant is now a toddler and is more active than ever. It’s also the age when experts say subconscious racial discrimination is first detected. That’s why it’s necessary to teach your child new concepts about perception and diversity.
- To drive home the point about people of different colour, you can get them to take different food items at home like balls of different colours.
The idea is to make them realise that the same thing can be in different colours. You can also try this with eggs by painting them in different colours and cracking them open to show it’s all the same inside. - Parents should also play dress-up and make your child wear different costumes. The concept here is to show that they’re still the same person no matter the attire they are wearing.
- It’s also a good opportunity to expose them to different professions and teach a little about the dignity of labour.
Anti Bias Activities For Kids Up To 4 Years
By the age of four years, children learn more about ethnic and gender differences. It’s also the age when the child’s artistic abilities come to the fore. You can use this period to tap into your little one’s creative side to teach them about anti bias.
- If your child likes to paint, you can ask them to paint themselves and their friends. Pay attention to the colours they use for the skin tone, and encourage them to use different shades for different people.
- You can also do the same activity using clay making it light brown or dark brown, depending on the person.
- It’s also a good time to introduce your child to different dolls or action figures that are from different backgrounds. For instance, if your little one is only asking for white dolls, make sure to ask why she wants that.
- Similarly, if your boy insists on just the white model’s action figure, it’s important to ask why do they not like the other one.
Encourage children at this age to ask themselves how they’d feel about being excluded? So why would they do when it selecting a doll or an action figure.
Anti Bias Activities For Kids Up To 6 Years
Your child is now going to school and will learn more about fairness, bias, and prejudice. This is a great time for role-playing activities in the house.
- Introduce them to books and material on diversity and incidents of racism in the past. You should ask about how they would react in a similar situation.
- It’s also an opportunity to create hypothetical scenarios around bias and ask your child to react to the situation.
- Parents should encourage more role-playing exercises at this age, especially when it comes to confrontation and communication as well.
Every conversation or activity that you have today with your little one will have a stronger impact on how they shape up to be as individuals tomorrow.
While racism is very much a part of the society we live in today, what we need is to make effort to raise good people in the society.
As parents, that’s the responsibility you have your child is able to acknowledge and support every member of the human race without any bias.
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