October 05, 2019

Quote of the Week

"It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength." -- Maya Angelou

Talking To Kids About Race And Cultural Diversity

"Racial and cultural diversity is an excellent topic to teach grade-school-age children. Grade-schoolers are forming lots of opinions about themselves and the people around them. This is when their natural curiosity about differences in appearance and cultural backgrounds really begin to come into play.

Children who are grade-school age are developmentally able to put cultural and racial differences into perspective. They can either learn to appreciate—or devalue—traits that make others different from themselves.

In other words, it’s prime time for parents and other adults in their lives to shape their attitudes about race and cultural diversity.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you talk to your child about the value of differences." [read more]

Reading Corner

Title: The Day You Begin
By: Jacqueline Woodson
Ages: 4-8

"There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is quite like you.  There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it."

Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway." -- Publisher

Be the Change

Here are some fun ways to teach your kids to value cultural diversity...

"1. Create a festive evening
Once a month, get the family involved in an immersion experience at your home. Incorporate music, expand your culinary horizons and try out fables.

2. Listen to world music
Turn on world music any time of day — while driving the kids to and fro, cooking, studying. It's easy to do and provides a look at another culture.

3. Get a pen pal
Through the exchange of letters with a pen pal, we begin to genuinely care about someone we have never met in person. The world becomes simultaneously much grander and more relatable.  There are numerous organizations to get you connected

[More Ideas]