How can I talk to my child about racism and discrimination?

From a very young age, children form attitudes towards other children and adults that look different from them. Racial bias in children is not uncommon but it is important for parents to know how talking to children about racism and discrimination can help.

Black History Month (celebrated in the US and Canada throughout February and in the UK in October) is a chance for parents to tackle racial bias.

Racial bias in children

Racial bias in children may begin in babies as young as six months, research by University of Toronto reveals. Professor Kang Lee, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He says two of his studies, which include researchers from the US, UK, France and China, indicate this is the case and says a lack of exposure to other races may be the cause of racial bias in children.

Professor Lee’s first study, published in Developmental Science, showed babies as young as six months old begin to associate faces from their own race with happy music and those from other races with sad music.  In the second study, published in Child Development, researchers found children aged just six months were more inclined to learn information from an adult of his or her own race, than from an adult of a different race.

“The results show that race-based bias already exists around the second half of a child’s first year,” said Professor Lee. “These findings thus point to the possibility that racial bias may arise out of our lack of exposure to other race individuals in infancy.”

What is explicit racial bias?

Explicit bias involves a person being aware of their prejudices and biased attitudes toward certain groups. They make conscious positive or negative preferences for a particular racial group. Racist comments are examples of explicit biases.

What is implicit racial bias?

Implicit racial bias is the unconscious attitude towards members of another race group that an individual has based on pre-existing beliefs/stereotypes. They may be unaware of this bias and it may even contrast with their openly expressed beliefs.

10 tips on how to talk to children about racism

Hosts of the podcast ‘Dope Black Mums’ have said parents of every ethnicity should find age-appropriate ways of speaking to their children about racial inequality. They recommend the earlier parents talk to their children the better. 

Naiqi (Gabriel) Xiao, who led research for two racial bias studies highlighted in this article, said “An important finding is that infants will learn from people they are most exposed to” indicating that parents can help prevent racial bias by introducing their children at a young age to people of different races.

Parents can use early years resources to educate their children about different racial groups, cultures, countries and can make use of the top 10 tips highlighted below.

• Role models. Children can be introduced to positive role models from different racial backgrounds e.g. people in the local community, leaders, TV characters who are black and from other racial groups.   

• Self-reflection. Parents can reflect on their network, friendship groups etc. How diverse are they? E.g. do you have a genuine relationship with people who are black or with people of colour? Consider how you can build relationships with black people. 

• Nursery staff diversity. Parents can consider whether staff at their child’s nursery include people of colour, different ethnic backgrounds and men as well as women. This helps children interact regularly with positive role models who reflect not just themselves but also society. When it comes to black childcare workers, early years providers have said two per cent of their childcare workforce at school-based nurseries in England are black. Some 90 per cent are white, according to the government’s childcare and early years providers survey 2019.

• Nursery staff training. Are your child’s nursery staff educated about language barriers, cultural differences etc. Do they foster positive relationships with all families whose children they support? Ask nursery staff to share tips with you about how you can talk to children about race and racial equality.  

• Books. Children’s books can include characters of different races in stories, without race necessarily being the main story in the book. The ‘Reflecting Realities’ report published in 2020 by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), stated children’s books must have ‘positive casual inclusion’ of ethnic minority characters who are not defined by their ethnicity but are instead ‘multi-dimensional individuals’. For example, Selina Brown’s children’s book, ‘Nena: The Green Juice,’ is an example of positive casual inclusion. Nena is a five-year-old black girl who learns how to make her first healthy drink from fresh fruit and vegetables.

• Toys. These can reflect and support diversity in people e.g. black dolls as well as white dolls. Positive representations in toys include a black doll called Biankha (by toy maker Biankha & Friends). With many outfits including a business suit and roles such as chief executive, she is described as a ‘strong, fierce, driven girl who knows what she wants in life and isn’t afraid to go and get it.’

• Songs, music, dance reflect diverse cultures, languages, customs etc.

• Food can be used (touching, cooking, tasting, painting) to highlight meals from diverse cultures.

• Language. Highlight appropriate words to describe race, culture, countries etc.

• Events. Celebrate different cultures, religions, traditions, festivals.  

Why should you educate children about racial equality?

Professor Lee indicates says implicit racial bias can be harmful and “permeates almost all of our social interactions, from health care to commerce, employment, politics, and dating. Because of that, it’s very important to study where these kinds of biases come from and use that information to try and prevent racial biases from developing”. 

You can reflect the diversity of the real world and positively influence children’s attitudes towards differences such as colour of skin as well as other differences like ethnicity, culture, disabilities, gender, age, etc.

Liz Pemberton is the director of The Black Nursery Manager, a consultancy firm focused on tackling racial bias. Ms Pemberton, a former manager of a nursery, said: “Everybody working with small children must recognise the significant impact that they have on their world view.”

Benefits of teaching children about racism and racial equality 

• Young children can become positive, tolerant members of society if they are familiar with different communities around them. Racial tolerance is important because it breaks down ‘them and us’ barriers. It leads to better social cohesion, positive relationships between people of different backgrounds and a stronger community. It also leads to greater empathy and understanding between people from different backgrounds.

• To follow the relevant UK country’s early years curriculum (e.g. England’s Early Years Framework Statutory Framework), it is important for nurseries to nurture children’s personal development. This involves helping them learn about the real world, society and celebrate diversity.

• Improved self-esteem, confidence and educational performance in children who have their family’s culture/ethnicity/customs recognised and celebrated in nursery and school. Dr Melrose Stewart is a chartered physiotherapist and was an expert on the Channel 4 TV documentary ‘Old Peoples’ home for 4 Year Olds’. Dr Stewart said institutional racism has contributed to the performance of Black Caribbean pupils declining from Key stage 2 upwards.

Children can learn a lot about diversity, whether it be race, gender, age, disabilities etc. For example, to find out how parents can talk to children about disabilities click here.