Tips For Talking To Kids About Race: Toddlers/Preschoolers

Welcome back! This is a continuation from my last post about talking to babies about race. Well, not really talking--it was more about exposing them to it. If you missed the last post in the series, check it out here. Anyway, in addition to the suggestions for the babies, there are some great ways to talk to toddlers about race. Toddler's minds and vocabularies are growing at an incredible rate. They are verbalizing quite a bit more, but they are still not ready to have full-blown conversations about race. So the idea is to take things a step beyond simple exposure and lay the foundation for talks that you want to happen later. Here are some ideas:

Toddlers/Preschoolers:
This is the time when kids are starting to talk. They are not ready to have intense conversations about race, but the topic can be introduced to them more directly now. 

• Take your child to a diverse array of restaurants: Food is a wonderful way to explore different cultures.  Not only does it allow children to experience different flavors, but culinary traditions teach children so much about different people. You can talk about how sushi is made, the difference between Spanish, Dominican, and Mexican cuisine, or talk about different types of utensils. These conversations are a great jumping-off point to more complicated questions and conversations in the future. If you don't have many different types of restaurants in your area, recreate different types of cuisine at home! There are lots of great recipes online, so do a quick Google search then bring the restaurant to your house!
• Attend festivals/museums/other cultural events: I'm very lucky to live in a large, multicultural, multiracial city (Washington, DC). In addition to the many amazing museums in town, we also have embassies, which means that there are a TON of cultural events every week. I know that not everyone has this at their fingertips, but there is so much diversity in America-there may be some cultural events close by that you are not even aware of. Scour the internet or sign up for a listserv in your area that talks about local events. Make a game of it by just closing your eyes and picking one. Or let your child decide! You may be surprised by what they gravitate towards!
• Start to pay attention to your child's budding friendships: This is likely the time when your child is starting to show interest in other children. Your child may have a few friends at daycare or preschool or a favorite friend at the park. They may even talk to you about setting up a playdate with a child that they really enjoy hanging out with. Pay attention to who these kids are. Of course, you want your child to have friends because they genuinely like each other, but are all of the friends that your child is exposed to you the same race/ethnicity? If so, how can you expand that circle? Are there friends at school that you haven't set up a playdate with? Is there a friend in your child's music class that you have never sat next to? If you are not comfortable inviting people you don't know well into your home, set up a playdate at a local park. Just work on getting your child exposed to people who are different from them. Seeing them as friends is an important first step in seeing them as equals.
• Ask questions! This is really the time that your kids will start talking about things around them. Whatever you do, don't silence them. Listen to their questions and comments, ask them more information, allow them to ask you questions. You do not always need to know the answer! If your child asks a question that you don't know how to answer, a good response is: "I don't know, hunnie. Let's find out together." And then spend the next few minutes, hours, or days gathering information. Your child will have fun playing detective with you and you are modeling something important for your child: If you don't know the answer to something, do some digging and find out more!

Remember that this list builds from the last one. Many of the suggestions in the Babies post are applicable to Toddlers and Preschoolers so check it out and apply some of your favorites. Do you have other ideas? Post them in the comments below! And don't forget to sign up for our newsletter! Check back in a few days for tips for a slightly older set of kids: School-Aged Kids.