How do you tell your kid about other people?
When you raise a child if you are a white person what do you tell your kid about black people and if you are a black person what do you tell for your kids about a white people and how much your coaching is influencing the child’s future social behavior?
2007-02-18 08:50:35 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
Funny, I can't recall my parents every teaching me tolerance. Maybe because we were exposed to other cultures as oppose to living in a bubble...
2007-02-18 09:05:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It certainly depends on the age of the child.
My eldest son is 3 and it wasn't until recently that I heard him make a comment relating to the colour of a persons skin.
We are caucasian/white and after having pizza delivered one night, he commented that "I like the brown man better than the black one". When I asked him what he meant, he explained that the man who usually delivers our pizza, who is of east indian descent, was friendlier and talked to him and his dog, whereas the man who had just delivered, who appeared to be jamaican/african?, wasn't nice because he didn't talk to him.
kids lol
Also, when he was about 1 year of age he was fascinated with any one who had darker skin than him. He would go up and touch their hand and say "pretty". It was so cute but he freaked out quite a few people.
He has a few books with pictures of babies/people in them and we look at them and talk about how everyone is different. We also look at ourselves in the mirror and talk about how we each have different eyes, nose, hair, skin, etc...
When he's asked why others have different colours of skin or hair or eyes, I explain that everyone is made of chemicals and depending on how much of some chemicals you have in your body, like melatonin, you may have lighter or darker hair/skin.
We did an experiment with water and food colouring to help him understand this concept. The more food colouring/melatonin/chemical you add to the water/body, the darker the colour is.
So far he seems to understand this concept and seems to realize that a person's colouring doesn't make them more or less of a friend.
2007-02-18 09:10:16 · answer #2 · answered by devils'littleangel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My kids were raised to be color blind. I grew up in the 60's during a lot of racial riots, and I learned that the type of prejudice and bigotry perpetrated against African Americans was something that I had to attempt to end in my generation so it wouldn't poison the next.
2007-02-18 09:06:03 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I was in Nigeria we talked with lots of kids....Usually they'd comment on us being white. We'd put something very white like a piece of paper up against my very white skin....then we'd ask is that white? they'd say no....then we'd ask what color it really was....finally someone would say tan....then we'd do the same thing....point to something very black like a kid's hair and compare it to one of the dark skinned kids there....again....is that black....no more brown....Then we'd explain that it was just different shades of brown, that we were the same....and they went away with that...knowing that there really wasn't a color difference.
2007-02-18 08:58:11 · answer #4 · answered by Jan P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You explain in the best possible way that you must judge people on the merits of that person and not the color of there skin.
2007-02-18 08:54:25 · answer #5 · answered by Smarty Pants™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that all racism starts in the home. My children are of mixed heritage, and I teach that the heart, soul, and mind, has no color...and those are the important things. I've also told them..."God created all kinds of people, with all kinds of differences..just to see who would be prejudice."
2007-02-18 09:09:00 · answer #6 · answered by sassy_395 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
kids are color blind they will play with anyone,it's the parents who teach the racial garbage.when white people hang out with blacks after a while they like them better than hanging out whites . other whites don't like blacks because they are affraid of them and because they don't know them at least that's what they tell me.
2007-02-18 10:07:42 · answer #7 · answered by saxaphonist 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hmmm... my daughter is both white and black, we have a mixture of everyone in our family, and my best male friend is Korean... I don't have to tell her anything.
2007-02-18 10:15:25 · answer #8 · answered by Annabella Stephens 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I tried to point out that different is not the same as right or wrong. It seems to be working.
2007-02-18 08:52:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
my parents had pictures of people of every culture in our house. si o grew up knowing that there were many types of people.
they did not have to tell me anything about them they were just other humans.
2007-02-18 08:53:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋