Talking to Kids About Race

If you are, as a white parent like me, looking for resources to help you have conversations with your children about race, you are not alone. Below I offer what I hope can be a starting place for those for whom this conversation is new.

While conversations about race are important and essential, I recognize that experts in the field provide guidance on age-appropriate ways to discuss race and the current and historical context with children. 

One good resource to guide you based on the age of your own children comes to us from The Children’s Community School and this visual from prettygooddesign.org adapted from the resources at The Children’s Community School.

Beyond that, below are more suggestions that might allow you to engage – or begin to engage – in important conversations about race with your children.

I know that parents are busier than ever, so I’ve broken down suggestions by the time you might find in your day that you are able to dedicate to learning more for yourself, as well as learning alongside, and engaging in conversation with, your children. 

If you have 5 minutes:

• Watch one of these short videos (with your child). This first one is about Privilege (just over 3 minutes) and this one is about Intersectionality (also just over 3 minutes). Ask your children what they see and hear.
• Read this piece from Motherly, 10 ways white families can teach their kids about race consciousness.

If you have 10 minutes:

• Listen to and/or read the transcript of this NPR Interview with Dr. Jennifer Harvey. Dr. Harvey’s biography on Amazon notes she is a writer, speaker, and professor at Drake University. Her work focuses on racial justice and white anti-racism. Dr. Harvey’s most recent books include Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in Racially Unjust America (Abingdon Press) and Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation (Wm. B. Eerdmans). Dr. Harvey also contributes to CCN, NPR, The New York Times,and Huffington Post and is ordained in the American Baptist Churches (U.S.A.).
• Read the article How to talk to your children about protests and racism and listen to the CNN interview (just over 2 minutes).

If you have 15 minutes:

• Read this article from National Geographic entitled Talking to kids about race. If you have more time, you can follow links in the article to places like this web portal from The Smithsonian/The National Museum of African American History and Culture about talking to kids about race.
  
• Or read through the Parent Toolkit called How to talk to kids about race and racism. Again, if you have more time, you can follow some of the links for deeper learning.
• Watch this TEDTalk from Liz Kleinrock about How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics.  

If you have 20 to 30 minutes:

• You can listen to this podcast from NPR titled Talking Race with Young Children. 
• Or this podcast from Mind/Shift and KQED about Teaching Kids about Privilege and Power.
  
• Read through this resource from Mighty Oaks Counseling and Wellness, How to Talk to your Children About Racism and Protesting. The resource includes, by age, books, videos, and documentaries you can share with your children, as well as reminders on how to center ourselves first before talking with kids about race and specific tools and language to use in our conversation.
• Choose one of these 31 children’s books or from this list of 60 children’s books, each of which offer main characters who are people of color or discuss historic events recognizing the experience of people of color, and read it with your child. Each book list offers age ranges to help guide your choices. As you read consider how to include these questioning strategies into your reading time. 

If you have an hour or more:

• Listen to this podcast with Brené Brown and Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist.
• Watch (with your child) the CNN and Sesame Street Town Hall, Standing Up to Racism, Saturday, June 6, at 10 a.m. ET (will be available for viewing after).
• Watch this webinar about Reading Picture Books With Children Through a Race Conscious Lens then put into practice what you’ve learned as you read with your child. 
• View this recorded webinar on Talking to Kids About Racism with psychologist Dr. Kira Banks and a panelist of other parents who are also authors and educators.

If you would like to diversify your own adult reading library:

Expand your own understanding of the experiences of people of color:

• 15 Books by Latino and Latin American Authors 
• 55 books by women and nonbinary writers of color
• 46 books by women of color

Learn more of context, history, and experience through nonfiction books (these are just a few):

• So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Stamped from the Beginning and How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Follow the links below to hear from other voices:

*note that some of these book list recommendations contain overlap of titles

• Choose a book from EyeSeeMe, an African American Children’s Bookstore dedicated to promoting “positive images and stories about African American culture and history.”
• Visit The Center for Racial Justice and Education and check out their Resources for Talking About Race, Racism, and Racialized Violence With Kids.
• Check out NPR’s ED Summer Reading List for kids.
• Or this list from Scott Woods Makes Lists 28 More Black Picture Books that are not about boycotts, buses, or basketball (volume 3).
• Follow and read more from @wanderingbritt for a thread on children’s books that discuss race and racism.
• Read this article from The New York Times which includes, by age, books that can help explain racism and protest to kids.
• Consider the resources in this guide, Children are not colorblind.
• Read Talking to Small Children About Race published in The Washington Post.
• Read classroom teacher Naomi O’Brien’s (@readlikearockstar) families’ guide for talking about racism.

The above suggestions are gathered through the variety of online resources being shared to aid us all, as parents and humans, in navigating crucial conversations about race with our kids. The resources here have been included and adapted from CNN, MindShift, NPR, The Children’s Community School, Motherly, The Center for Racial Justice, Mighty Oaks Counseling and Wellness, and other important voices being elevated right now in our online communities.