Talking to Kids about Race

Parent Q&A

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  • My husband and I have a 4-year-old who seems to be really struggling with their racial identity. I am white, husband is Black (born/raised in an African country until adulthood). I feel knowledgeable about and comfortable with the generally "recommended" approach to teaching young children about race and racism. We have long had direct discussions about skin color, buy our child books with diverse characters, send our child to a school where their class is 1/3 Black children (including other biracial children) in addition to many other non-white kids. We frequently eat food from my husband's country, listen to music, talk to his family, etc... though of course with the pandemic and high cost of travel it's hard to see them in person. I am familiar with Black history and talk about it -- including the many positive aspects to celebrate -- with my kids.

    What does "struggling" look like? For many months our child has referred to themselves as "light-skinned" or "peach-skinned" (how I describe my color to them) -- sometimes "caramel" but consistently "light skinned." They are definitely light-skinned among Black people, but there's no doubt they will navigate this society as a clearly / recognizably Black person. When we read books that show discrimination my child will talk about "changing the rules" and "treating people fairly" but doesn't seem to (want to) personally identify as a member of the group being treated badly -- in some ways totally understandable, but not a healthy or tenable life strategy long-term.

    When I recently said something like yes, you're Black and your skin is a beautiful caramel my child resisted in tears: "I don't want to be Black!" When I explained that being Black is beautiful, and that "Black" doesn't mean literally the color but means you have family from Africa, just like mom's skin is "white" but isn't literally the color of printer paper they responded: "I don't want to have family from Africa!" When we tried to probe for "why?" we didn't get any answers. 

    I know that explicit racial bias peaks in kids around this age, but I frankly didn't expect it from a child who is so close to their (dark-skinned) father, attends a diverse school, enjoys my husband's culture in many ways, talks warmly about his family, etc.

    Is any of this familiar to other parents of Black children? Or to people raising biracial children? I haven't found many resources online and would appreciate some perspectives from people who've been there. Thank you.

    I'm white and my biracial child is very light-skinned/white-appearing so I suspect you may get more helpful information from Black parents or parents of more Black-appearing children, but...

    My biracial son is the same age as yours. I have resisted dictating anything to him about his racial identity, and instead give him lots of information and ask him questions. We also don't really use the labels "Black" and "white" with him, because it's confusing and also not super accurate. Instead we talk a lot about skin color (e.g. "Nana's skin is dark brown, daddy's skin is medium brown, mama's skin is light pink/beige - what color is your skin?"). There is obviously more to Blackness and racial identity than just skin color, but so far we have decided to let that come up as he gets older. My husband is biracial-Black and has struggled with his racial identity his whole life, so for me it felt very important to not inform my son what race he is, but instead have lots of discussions about it and let him figure it out on his own, as he navigates his way through life. I recognize this may not be something that is possible for a more Black-appearing child. We also haven't had to deal with the negativity around his identity that you describe, which sounds really challenging. But recently we were talking about skin color in the context of discrimination and people being mean to people with darker skin, and my son said, "my skin is white." Which was really jarring, especially because we have never used that word with him when describing skin color. But I let it go in the moment, and continued the discussion we were having. While my experience is not the same as yours, I think as long as you're continuing to talk about it, continuing to remind your child of the beauty of both their heritage and their physical appearance, it will work out okay. i would also maybe encourage you to let your child define themself as they want for right now, even if it's not objectively "accurate." My son insists that he's Princess Anna, and I don't correct him. (I know it's different, but not entirely.) This will evolve as they get older. My last suggestion, which maybe you're already doing, is to check in with your child's father about how he feels about this. As the white parent, I recognize that I will never understand what it means to be Black or biracial and my husband has a lot of insight to share. Good luck!

    We had a similar situation with my daughter when she was that age...I know in my daughter's case, she was reacting to the fear of encountering racism and oppression. She also went through a period where she embraced being black, but used the fact inappropriately, i.e. "I don't want to play with her because she's white," or "Black people don't like to eat that." It sounds like you are doing a lot of the right stuff. It really helped us to emphasize a few things in our readings. You will likely have to do so over and over and it will take time for them to really get it. 1) Try to keep it developmentally appropriate. At that age, I'd focus on simple books that celebrate being black and black culture, as well as difference. 2) Although there are books about racism and civil rights written for young children, that does not mean your child is ready for that. Share these things in a way that empowers him. These are stories not just of oppression, but of survival, resilience, and making change. Emphasize that the world is different than it was then and your child will have a different experience because of the struggles for justice that happened before in concrete examples that they can understand. As he is more able to handle issues that are more current, you can build on the fact that people have made change and will continue to. 3) Children at that age tend to generalize and simplify, so it is important to help him understand that it is not simply a white against black issue. If you read about MLK Jr. being shot, for example...the first thing he might think of is being afraid that he will be shot because he is black. Obviously gun violence against black folks IS an issue, but that's not really the intention of the book, and he may not be at an age that you can talk about that level of race inequity.

    Also, if you don't have this book, you might be interested:  https://www.amazon.com/Im-Chocolate-Youre-Vanilla-Race-Conscious/dp/078…

    I hope this helps and good luck!!

    I am biracial, although am Asian and white. I look very 'not white', and yet until college, I actively pushed away my Asian heritage. When people asked me about my background I downplayed my Asian side. And I am very very close to my mother, who is Asian. I have thought a lot about this, and I think it boils down to two main reasons: 1) people often want to know which ethnicity you identify the most with, which is stupid. 2) White supremacy is extremely real and everywhere. Implicit cues that whiteness is best are EVERYWHERE, it's impossible to shield children from them. I think your son is grappling with what that means to him.

    I think other parents will have tips and tricks on how they navigated this, but honestly, the thing I wish my mother did was to keep talking to me about her heritage and culture. She stopped because I told her I wasn't interested, but I wish she would have kept at it. Having that connection would have helped me combat the implicit racism better.

    I have a black-white biracial daughter who is now in college. I think your daughter is actually not seeing this as "race" at all, she is seeing it as wanting to look like you, whom I imagine is her main care giver. Maybe just wait until kindergarten and this should work itself out as in time she will not be as attached to just you.

    I'm sorry to hear this. I am biracial (medium brown, I suppose -- I definitely look African American) and do remember going through this phase as a child, probably around that age. Though at that time (mid-1980s) I didn't know any other biracial children since it was far less common then. I just wanted to chime in and say that I think this is normal and will pass. I think kids pick up on the fact that there IS a cultural preference for light skin in our society (perhaps no matter how much counter programming we try to do as parents) and they verbalize that. I mean 90% of the Disney princesses are still white... ya know? My 4-year-old daughter is also biracial and wishes out loud she were blonde "like Elsa" at least once a week. 

    I love the Beyonce song where Blue Ivy sings about brown being beautiful. Maybe add that into the rotation? And watching more shows with a cool girl Black or brown protagonist, etc., would be great (Doc McStuffins, Gaby's Dollhouse). And also I think trying not to make her feel bad for wanting to look "white." It doesn't have the historical connotations it does for us to a child. She might just want to look like you or her favorite princess? I remember as a little girl feeling SO guilty I felt that way and not understanding why adults didn't "get it." I try to empathize with my daughter and realize she's just picking up on the signals our world is sending...and I try to send different signals since she's still highly interested in my opinion at this age. We talk a lot about how her curly hair is super cool, etc.

    What a tough situation! Unfortunately I can't speak from personal experience, but in my work with kids, and have encountered similar things. This article may be helpful for understanding some of the identity development process for multiracial kids: Chameleon Changes: An Exploration of Racial Identity Themes of Multiracial People by Miville et al. You can find the article for free online if you search for the title. Also, Sesame Workshop just started a new racial justice project called Coming Together that has videos and resources that you may find helpful. https://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/racial-justice

    Best of luck!

    You, a White-identified woman, are insisting that your child embrace a marginalized American racial "identity" that you do not share. That's heavy for a 4-year-old. Perhaps you should let it go until your child brings it up on their own.

    I'll be fascinated to read the replies, and wish I had wisdom from you. My children are bi-cultural, with a parent raised in a different country, but not bi-racial. You are obviously a loving and very thoughtful mom, but it struck me as I was reading your post that I wonder if maybe you've focused TOO much on the differences? In your effort to make your sweet baby feel loved and accepted for who he is, maybe pointing out the differences has backfired? It's hard to imagine, in the environment you've created, that implicit bias has affected him. Kids will resist what we try to teach them for a variety of reasons, and it sounds developmentally appropriate Just a thought. You're doing great!!

    I really cannot say anything about your situation. However, I attended a great seminar by Dr. Breeze (https://www.abreezeharper.com/ ) about antiracism parenting. She might be able to help you from her experience and from her academic studies.

    I'm a white mom of a biracial (black) daughter who is about to turn 18. I think you are really over thinking this and perhaps putting too much pressure on a 4 year old which is why they are pushing back. You are expecting too much to think that a 4 year old can have a fully formed racial identity. This is a process and your child will eventually decide for themselves how they identify. Right now they are exploring, trying things on, like the labeling of skin color and such. Even at 4 your child already knows that it is harder to be black than it is to be white, the "I don't want to be black" comment is just an expression of that painful reality, not racial bias. You can't control this, just continue to model diversity and inclusion. When my daughter was 4 she had about 100 Barbies, all white, she refused to even entertain the black or brown Barbies. Well meaning relatives would buy her black dolls and books with black characters etc.., and she would have none of it. A few years into elementary school she just began referring to herself as black. She has never identified as biracial and she is now a very proud and confident black woman. 

    This sounds really stressful and I'm sorry I can't offer an I've been there perspective. But since I don't see any other responses thought I would note that at 4-years old my children would often insist on certain points and trying to correct them only made them further entrenched. Also, when they sensed my anxiety about something they would double down (incredibly frustrating obviously). Your situation is a lot more complicated because the issues are so important, but I would keep these things in mind here too. At 4 years old your child is surely sensitive to constructs that would categorize them as different from a beloved parent, even if it groups them with an equally beloved parent. Perhaps your child is resisting a concept that seems to set them apart from you in this way, and you can reframe the discussions a bit to mitigate this. You might also double check whether your child is receiving direct input from other sources that are a contributing factor here -- sometimes there are discussions going on at school or with another adult.  

    I identify as a black woman, however my father was black and my mother is Vietnamese.  Raising a confident black girl who loves herself requires a tremendous amount of hard work because our entire society doesn't value our beauty.  I appreciate you writing this and reaching out, but what you're doing is not nearly enough.  Please drop everything and read this column written by Jamilah Lemieux from the Slate parenting advice blog called Care and Feeding RIGHT NOW.  The link is below.  It is the BEST thing I have ever read regarding raising black girls in America.  Please feel free to reach out to me if you ever need anything, including help surrounding your daughter with some Black Girl Magic.

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/01/how-to-teach-confidence-biraci…

     

  • Hello everyone, I have a very strong-willed preschooler who is opinionated, often just based on impulse or snap judgments. My partner and I try our best to ask him why he thinks what he thinks or why he said what he said. Often, he just doesn't give an answer that makes sense to us and just carries on playing or talking. We also just try to inform him better or teach him concepts. Sometimes they are simply about how things work (i.e., the earth goes around the sun). Most times, we aren't concerned about his loud, opinionated behavior because it seems normal for his age. However, I became concerned about his comments while watching TV recently. He is allowed to watch cartoons and family-oriented movies, but even then, I have noticed that whenever there is a Black person, he will loudly point out that that character is a 'bad person'. And because of his limited understanding, it really has nothing to do with the character's role in the story; it's purely based on looks. We do not watch a lot of Disney; we watch the family movies on Netflix and cartoons like Daniel Tiger. (As a sidenote, he also refused to watch Jingle Jangle, notably a mostly Black cast). In all honesty, I am flummoxed because I sincerely do not think he gets that kind of habit from us, meaning that we do not talk about people that way, make these kinds of associations ourselves, put labels on people, etc. I would like to think that we ourselves are anti-racist, but I am also open to what people might suggest more proactive measures for us as parents. I would like to know how to begin to educate my child on being anti-racist in a way that he understands so that we can continue to guide him in an age-appropriate way with age-appropriate content. Thank you.

    Children learn from their environment and the truth is that we live in a racist society. It takes a concerted effort to raise an antiracist child. You need to consider their relationships: are they exposed to people of different races? Do they have children of other races as playmates? Do you have a diverse family? Friends? What does your community look like? What do the books they read look like? What does your neighborhood look like? You may want to look at diversifying their experience and exposure. If you are only socializing with white people, and only reading books about white people, despite your best intentions that's what your child sees and knows.

    Hi,

    I am by no means an expert. I think there are passive ways to do this though. You could start by increasing your books that center BIPOC. For a period maybe even put away a few of the more familiar ones that center white people. It normalizes black/brown people, skin, families and opens you up to conversations about those people & skin. Here’s a short list of a few we like. 
    Feast for 10 by Callwell

    Every Little Thing by Marley

    Antiracist Baby by Kendi (this one is not passive, it’s very proactive& direct)

    Jabari Jumps by...?

    Daddys Arms by Ferguson 

    Everywhere Babies by? 

    Also having black/brown dolls to play with. Modeling affection with those dolls. 

    Also more films that center POC. We loved the Pixar’s new movie Soul... Disney’s Frog Princess, Coco... 

    Like I said, I’m no expert. Good for you for catching it & good luck!

    This isn’t advice; apologies. More of a question. Does he have much exposure to other races (you don’t specify yours)? Interaction with people of different walks of life, including racially different? On a regular basis, like daily? I can’t say that that would “solve” anything per se, but I do think that exposure would help. 

    I highly recommend the book Raising White Kids. Even if your child not white, the book may have helpful context and suggestions for having these kinds of conversations with your child about race and racism if you're struggling with how to get started.

    Something I took away from the book was that kids are looking for patterns to help make sense of the world. We live in a racist world. And so they see discrimination against black people (and other minorities) and draw their own conclusions about why that happens. And so it's really important for parents to talk to their white kids about systemic racism early and frequently. And to ask questions and have responses ready when they say things like what your child is. The book has a variety of ways to do this and some suggestions ways to build your child into an ally of POC.

    Hi there, kudos to you for recognizing this is an issue and asking for help. The principle of anti-racism is there’s no neutrality - as ending racism needs proactive words, actions, and education otherwise we’re all just upholding the system of racial hierarchy. So you are doing the right thing.
    Kids do self segregate and putting things and places and people into groups are just how they navigate the world. It isn’t harmful but parent guidance is necessary to prevent bias. So don’t beat yourself up, it’s absolutely natural and early anti-racist education is fundamental. I can recommend Nuture Shock by Po Bryson for more on the way kids learn about race and how to steer it toward anti-racism. I also want to shout out Multicultural Bookstore in Richmond (she has an online store too) because she has many many resources for kids and adults. The owner, Tamara, can point you in the right direction, she’s wonderful. I just want to encourage you to KEEP talking about race with your kids. So many white parents believe that if they don’t call attention to race, their kids will grow up colorblind but in reality kids are forming their own associations and there are many ways unconscious bias creeps in. Parents provide the foundation for kids to understand race. It may seem uncomfortable to talk about it. Remember families of color often talk about race, it’s a fact of life for us. I applaud you for seeking help!! Best of luck to you!

    sincerely, a black mom 

    Hi, OP here. Thank you for your suggestions! I appreciate your suggestions and do apologize that I failed to give details about myself, which could have helped further the conversation. I am Asian and my partner Hispanic. Most of our friends actually fall along our racial lines, which is mainly due to culture and shared languages because my partner was not born here, and my own parents were immigrants (so English was not my first language). I struggled a lot with being the Other in school and was not outgoing enough to even try to assimilate; hence, I also flocked to 'my own' as soon as I got the chance. So, while our own social network is diverse in itself, it is neither diverse with regards to black or white friends. Thanks for the referrals to different resources, whether they primarily have a white audience in mind or not. I think I will start with the BIPOC children's reading. I agree that it is good to diversify one's own experiences and social network as well. If anyone has suggestions for how to do that in a family activity-type of way (esp. covid times), I would love to know. I used to participate in public library events with my kid, but those of course aren't available at the moment.

  • Hello BPN,

    My parenting book club will be tackling the issue of parenting and racism next month. I’m the group moderator charged with selecting the book. Would welcome book suggestions for books about how to talk to kids about race and how to raise race-aware/inclusive kids. Our kids are all kindergarten age and under. They will *not* be attending a racially diverse public elementary school, so I’m really invested in parenting intentionally in this area. We will be doing kids’ books another time, so adult nonfiction book recs are what I’m looking for. Thank you BPN!

    It's not a how-to manual, but you might get some useful insight/perspective from "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates if you haven't read it already. I'm sure other commenters will have lots of good ideas, too.

    Adult books (to help you see race):NurtureShock (the race chapter): https://amzn.to/2KtnlFU
    Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness: https://amzn.to/2ILWUhuPart Asian, 100% Hapa: https://amzn.to/2GobC9hUnderstanding White Privilege: https://amzn.to/2k0k71pWhistling Vivaldi: https://amzn.to/2k1ONPPWhite Like Me: https://amzn.to/2rNw6DKFire In the Heart: https://amzn.to/2L3w4zMWhy Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: https://amzn.to/2k0SAwR
    Uprooting Racism: https://amzn.to/2L6TRiuMultiplication is for White People: https://amzn.to/2rLGpbDSister Citizen: https://amzn.to/2rOyAku
    Black White Other: https://amzn.to/2rRmtn4Clearly Invisible: https://amzn.to/2rKV0Ei Kid's books (to help them see race):Shades of People: https://amzn.to/2KtBa7dLet's Talk About Race: https://amzn.to/2L5Jk71

    Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids: https://amzn.to/2IJUHmR

    The longest Shortest Time Podcast did a great series on this topic. Here is a link to some of their recommended reading.

    https://longestshortesttime.com/talking-with-kids-about-race-and-racism

    I have a couple of recommendations. The first chapter of a book called Nurture Shock is good. It is called something like "Why white people don't talk to their kids about race." For a whole book, you may want to considering "Whistling Vivaldi" which I've read with groups and, while it doesn't address parenting directly, it raises so many of the relevant issues, that it is great for provoking discussion about the subtle ways that racism is perpetuated and could certainly be applied to parenting. Children learn racism not just by talking (or not) about race, but by their parent's subtle and unconscious actions.

    Good luck and thank you for prioritizing this topic.

    If you'd be willing to consider an alternative to a book, Shakti Butler has several movies that would be great for stimulating conversation, as would Allison-Briscoe Smith's talk, "How to Talk to your Kids about Race"

    I am not understandinf why the public  kindergarten is NOT  ethnically diverse. That might be the first step...

    A book by Marguerite Wright called I'm Chocolate, Your Vanilla.

    And teaching tolerance has a fantastic video about preschoolers who teach about diversity and difference )including ethnicity, disability etc).
     

    I really got a lot out of "Are We Born Racist?" (edited by Jason Marsh, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Jeremy Adam Smith). It's a collection of essays with research findings from neuroscience and psychology about racism and prejudice, especially in relation to child development. The essays are all pretty short/ readable.
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11167222-are-we-born-racist

    How about reading some kiddy lit?  I just came across this and it seems to be a good resource:  https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/

    Personally I’ve found it hard to find books for kids  that treat this well. Eg I’ve found some that treat skin color in as reductionist a manner as race itself. And they tend to be addressed the white kids only.

    Perhaps a visit to Marcus Books in Oakland might be worth your time too.  

    PS- sorry- I missed your point about getting kids' books next time. 

    If you’re open to media other than books, Kamau Bell had a funny, thoughtful, parent-oriented segment on This American Life: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/557/birds-bees 

    (TAL and ProPublica did some great work on housing discrimination and school segregation too).

    This seems like a good resource too- I haven’t been able to attend their webinars- usu. happens during dinner time for us.  But lots of parenting resources here, founded by an interracial couple back east:

    http://www.embracerace.org

    Another take is to learn more about racial justice, history, etc., as parents, and discuss how to go forward in raising yhour kids, presumbly, not to pass racism down to them.  I’ve found these very insightful for my journey:

    Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and the genius behind the new lynching museum in Alabama:

    https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/06/24/bryan-stevenson-on-charle…

    Stamped from the Beginning, Ibrahim X. Kendi An intellectual history of racism in the US, through the lives of a handful of American thinkers/writers, from Cotton Mather, Thos. Jefferson, to W. E. B. DuBois and Angela Davis.

    The Invention of Race: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/12/05/the_invention_of_race  Based on a really great 14 episode podcast called Seeing White, published by the Center for Documentary Studies out of Duke: http://podcast.cdsporch.org/seeing-white/

    Robin DiAngelo, on white privilege (22 min video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54

    Uncivil, an interesting podcast about untold or forgotten stories about the Civil War, that won a Peabody: https://www.gimletmedia.com/uncivil

    Nikole Hannah Jones of the NYT has done a lot of interesting reporting on education and race (h/t to her for the term,"curated diversity"):  https://twitter.com/nhannahjones

    Pod Save the People, DeRay McKesson's (of Ferguson fame) current events podcast.  CodeSwitch, an NPR podcast on race and race relations.

    A lot of black twitter is a good way to learn (sorry- I'm assuming you and your kids are white; our family passes as neither black nor white).

    HTH,

  • Last year my then 3rd grader got into an argument with his friend at recess and said to him "Black Lives don't matter" which upset his friend.   As a consequence, my son received an "in school suspension" where he wrote an essay and did some drawings around the subject.  At one point,  I was told by a teacher that he was asked what does "Blue Lives matter" mean, to which he responded that we should care about "sad people" too.    When he returned to his class the the next day, the kids confronted him about what he said.  He left the classroom and hid.  The principal/teacher coaxed him to go into the classroom and apologize.  He clung to me crying but eventually went into two classrooms, stood at the front of each and took ownership of what he had said. 

    Last Friday, during the after school program, a group of teenagers tried to climb the fence over the school and threw rocks at the kids in the playground, one of which hit my son in the head.  A teacher went out to confront them and was jumped. The kids were very upset, the police were called and my kid was interviewed.  On the way home, he told me that he didn't want to tell the black cop that the teenagers were black because he didn't want to sound racist.   I'm planning to reach out to the cop and ask him to meet with my son again.     The question is dealing with the school around this.  This is a Spanish immersion and very sensitive to diversity school so there is broad cultural "awareness." However, if a kid feels that it is "wrong" to tell a black cop that a black teenager threw rocks at people, it wouldn't appear that a lot of deep-diving is going into their teaching around these issues beyond the "celebration" of various cultures.  Having said that maybe it's just too big for any school to take on....         

    It's hard to answer your question because you don't say what it is you want the school to be doing differently in regards to teaching the kids about race and racial justice. 

    It seems to me that since your son raised with you (and not the school) his fear of describing the race of the teenagers to the cop, you should just address it directly with your son. Did the police officer ask him to describe the race of the teenagers? If so, can you just explain to him that it's okay to answer that question honestly? If the police officer didn't ask, then you can explain to your son that the officer must not have needed that information, for whatever reason (maybe he had that information from another witness, maybe there was video footage, etc.). 

    I think you have an important opportunity here to teach your kid that it's okay to feel uncomfortable about race and racism, but that shouldn't stop us from talking about  race. Situations like this are where the seeds of white fragility are sown. It sounds like your son is already shutting down as a result of receiving feedback on a problematic statement he made about black lives. Please encourage him to be open to such feedback. That's one of the most important things we white parents can teach our kids.

    Hi, I'm so sorry these things happened to both the teacher and your son. It sounds very uncomfortable and traumatic. Can I suggest that it will help tremendously for you as the parent to take responsibility for talking about race with your child on a regular basis? Forgive me if this suggestion is off base or missing the point. 

    I know you asked how the school should handle it, (and honestly I'm not sure either-but going to the principal can't hurt!) but what's also important is how you handle it. From my limited experience and from what I've read, it's important to discuss race and identity with your child openly and often, especially if you are white. It's a common sentiment, especially  among white folks and their children, that talking about skin color and/or racial identity is somehow racist. I don't know what race y'all are or if that applies to you, but regardless, it might help to frame this as a wonderful teaching and learning opportunity for everyone involved. 

    I am white, and I'm learning every day how to talk about race with my kids and how to make them more aware of and respectful of differences in people. (Not to say you don't already do that! But there's always more to learn for us all) 

    I recently discovered SURJ (standing up for racial justice)here in the east bay, and there are a couple of blogs that I  read as well- 

    embracerace.org

    http://www.embracerace.org/uploads/1/0/3/1/103189290/embraceracetipseng…

    http://www.raceconscious.org/

    The most important thing I've learned is that is ok to not know all the "right" things to say to your kid about race. It's ok to learn together.  Thanks for reading and I wish you luck!

    I don't think the principal handled that well at all. As a parent I would have been very upset. I imagine your 8 year old had no idea that what he said during an playground argument with a friend would cause so much uproar. As you stated, his interpretation of " blue lives matter" was quite literal, to him it meant that "we should care about sad people too". To him "black lives don't matter" probably meant "I don't care that you're upset, I'm mad at you!" Kids think in very concrete terms at this age, I don't think most 3rd graders understand the deeper context of the black lives matter movement. Yes, your son needs to understand that his words hurt his friend's feelings but that should have taken place in a private meeting between the children directly involved and a teacher. Instead they chose to humiliate and shame your son by forcing him to apologize in front of all of his peers. Why was this blown out of proportion to such a degree? These are children, not politicians.  Clearly not all of the kids in both classes were affected by what your son said.  Ugggh. I won't even try to tackle the second part of your question. I'll just say that the P.C police are on high alert in the Bay Area. Everything you say can and will offend someone, somewhere. Your son is now afraid to say anything about race because he might say something that would accidentally offend someone again.   I agree that our schools need to be doing more to bring kids TOGETHER,  there is a huge focus on celebrating cultural differences. But what about unity?

Archived Q&A and Reviews


Questions

Talking to kindergardner about race and racism

Oct 2008

I am a black mother of a biracial 5 year old. We live in a predominantly white suburb. Yesterday, she had a name calling incident on the playground, nothing with racist or racial overtones, just a standard argument among kids. Now that she is in school, I know that first ''racial'' incident is coming soon. How do I prepare her and myself to handle it? Should I confront the child or the parent? Anxious


I can't weigh in on whether you should confront the other parent, but a really excellent book on dealing with race and preshcoolers and early elementary school children is: I'm Chocolate,You're Vanilla by Margurite Wright. Sarah


I just finished reading ''why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?'' It was a great read, does cover biracialism, and has good references to other books. white mama


I think it is never too early to talk to our kids about their identity and the racism they will unfortunately encounter in our society. For your specific incident, I think at the minimum you need to inform the school about it in a ''sharing important information'' way, as it may influence their program choices, playground staffing, and so forth. You may want to do more, such as suggesting social skills/diversity awareness programs for teachers, kids, parents, etc. Check out Second Step, for example.

We need to be our children's advocates in so many ways--by setting the tone for how we see and address people; which schools and communities we choose; how we respond to incidents; consciously providing them positive images and exposure to people of all races; and so on. Small examples in my life include buying subscriptions to magazines like Oprah and Teen Voices; choosing for my daughter to commute to a diverse middle school with both children AND teachers/staff of color; attending cultural events celebrating my kid's bio-heritage, which is not my own; and constantly checking my own assumptions and experience and remembering that they will be different from those of a person of color.

I also recommend the resources from PACT, a national organization which happens to be based here in Oakland. They are an adoption agency and they provide education especially useful for transracially adoptive families, but of relevance to all mixed-race families and anyone raising children of color. They have a great book list with lots of parenting advice, newsletters, educational events, summer camps, support groups, and email lists. http://www.pactadopt.org/

Best wishes to you. White mom of child of color


I am one mom of a two mom family. We have a 9 year old daughter and have started hearing, particularly since the McCain / Palin team that our family should not exist.

I am surprised that you have not already addressed this issue with your child. When our daughter was a very young toddler we began talking about all kinds of families. We also put her in a preschool where we had many biracial children. While we were the first two mom family at the school, we recruited more to come. When families asked, we were open with information about what it\xe2\x80\x99s like to be a two mom family, how we chose the donor, who got pregnant, how a second-parent adoption works. There were probing questions that I did not think anyone would ask. But we took the time to answer every one - - - most of the time with our daughter and her peers present. It helped make our daughter resilient.

I was the one who posted the family tree project question \xe2\x80\x93 and we met with the teacher. We asked our daughter what she wanted to say. One mom had the baby and the other mom loved the baby so much that she wanted to make it her own baby in every way so she adopted the baby. I asked what if kids asked questions about the right to exist. She said, well, the kids have not had exposure to all kinds of families. They\xe2\x80\x99re probably saying that because they hear it at home and have never met a family like ours. It\xe2\x80\x99s okay to express your opinion. It\xe2\x80\x99s not okay to be hateful.

So, you may have to talk to your child about the fact that some people believe that the races should not mix. Maybe they feel that way because of what there parents believe, or maybe they feel that way because they have not met any mixed-race people. They can have an opinion. But they cannot name call and they cannot be hateful.

And as I have told my daughter, I will go to the ends of the earth to protect the rights of people to believe and speak their truth. I will also go to the ends of the earth to protect people from name-calling and hate. Early Education is Always the Best Way


I grew up in Central Asia, in a country that had (and still has) two pretty distinct racial groups, although we see ourselves as myriads of various ethnicities vs. \xe2\x80\x9cwhites\xe2\x80\x9d and Asians. My country does not have a history of racial segregation or tensions, nor was I ever \xe2\x80\x9cpreprogrammed\xe2\x80\x9d by my parents, schools, friends or TV on how to handle race and I have to say, I just don\xe2\x80\x99t recall a single instance of race coming up as an issue when I was growing up. Of course, that was a different country, different world and my experience gives me no real insight into the complex situation affecting this country. Nevertheless, I couldn\xe2\x80\x99t help but notice your statement that you \xe2\x80\x9cknow that first \xe2\x80\x98racial\xe2\x80\x99 incident is coming up soon\xe2\x80\x9d and I am wondering if it is wise to be setting our kids\xe2\x80\x99 minds up for this ugliness that might or might not occur. Hopefully enough of us have evolved to a point where race, gender, sexuality, height, length of fingers, shape of ears, etc. is a non-issue. My own kids are fortunate enough to be in a preschool with kids of every race (including mixed ethnicities), families from other countries, a boy with the Down syndrome, a girl with two moms \xe2\x80\x93 you get the picture. As a result, all these differences are just the facts of life to my boys, not something to celebrate, reject or use as definitions. Maybe I am hopelessly na\xc3\xafve, but I think that the best way to shield your child from the potential negative experiences would be to expose her us much as possible to these various forms of existence, establishing it as the norm, so that if she encounters the ignorance from some unfortunate individuals, she will have the knowledge and confidence to brush it off. I just don\xe2\x80\x99t think that confronting the other child or the parent will achieve anything \xe2\x80\x93 it\xe2\x80\x99s not likely to change their misguided perception of the world, nor will it help you daughter develop any useful defense tactics. anon


I too had the same concerns as you a number of years back. I have two biracial boys, ages 11 and 13. The school they attend is predominately white. To the best of my knowledge they have never encountered overt or even subtle negative racial bias from other children, teachers or parents. We do talk to them about racism, similar to how we speak of warnings parents give to their children on all sorts of issues (crossing streets, talking to strangers, and so forth). Hopeful


I've posted this before but I strongly recommend checking out http://www.antiracistparent.com/ and the sites linked from there. They have tons of great advice on the site already, you can submit questions to the community and they have new weekly 'open thread' where you just post to anyone! parker


I'm not a psychologist nor am I African American, but I do have a non-white 3rd grader and wanted to know how to treat racism in schools before she began. Here's what I learned:

I read a couple of books, my favorite being I'M CHOCOLATE, YOU'RE VANILLA: RAISING HEALTHY BLACK AND BIRACIAL CHILDREN IN A RACE CONSCIOUS WORLD. Its written by Marguerite Wright, an African American psychologist in Berkeley who interviewed many many children about their perception of race, and also interviewed many prominent African American adults about how they were raised in relation to racism and what their parents did to give them a healthy attitude towards life. The short story as I remember it regarding your issue is that children perceive race in a very different way from adults, at different stages in childhood. A very young child may talk about a ''white'' man as a man wearing a white shirt, whereas it means something very different to us. Pertaining to your particular issue, it's good to let children know you will not let people walk all over you, but if they are too young to understand what racism is, its better to focus your ''attitude corrections'' on basic human respect. For example, children know that name calling, pushing or hitting is disrespectful and wrong, so it would be good to focus on those issues. I think one example in the book was that a grocery clerk was rude to an African American mom while she had her children with her. She went to the manager and complained about the clerk's rudeness without mentioning that it was racist, but focusing on the rudeness. This demonstrated standing up for herself on topics her children understood. You can focus on the issue of respect rather than having a talk about racism before your child is ready to understand it. From what I remember, the author concluded that about 4th grade was when children have an ''adult-style'' understanding of racism. From knowing my 3rd grader, I agree that her understanding is still different. She can refer to people as ''black'' but there are no societal stereotypes attached.

I remember the book saying that the longer you are able to hold off on the ''racism'' talk, the better. Afr Am adults who succeeded in life got lots of positive early messages about what their possibilities are, not what their limits in society are.

Good luck and have lots of fun w/ your young one! You're a great parent to be thinking about this! Sue


I'm a black mother of a black toddler who is not yet in any sort of school/preschool situation where ''the N word'' might come up. Nevertheless, before I became a mom I remember a friend of mine telling me that she was *really* happy that she had talked to her child about racism before he went to school, because an incident happened very quickly once the kid was enrolled! She talked to him about the ''hateful'' things people sometimes say, and that it was ''racist'' to say those things. So though I'm not yet there myself, I plan on taking a similar approach: A kid who would say that to you is making a racist statetment; you should tell him/her that it's racist, and then tell the teacher. It would be very important to me to let my kid stand up to the bully first -- without bringing in an adult right away. Sorry, but I just can't count on any teacher saying or doing the right thing in that sort of situation. And really, the ''N word'' is a deal breaker with me: Where did the kid pick it up? From parents? neighborhood environment? Kids fuss and argue on all sorts of levels, but to go in that territory is simply off limits and it's not my child's job to take that form of verbal abuse while the bullying kid finds his moral center over time. I'd have my child call it what it is to the other kid's face. Then, the bully kid can discuss ''racist/racism'' with his parents on his/their own time - - since now he knows that the ''N word'' is a hateful thing to say. I don't think you need to talk with the parents yourself unless the behavior continues. And surely if it continues, I'd talk with the teacher at the school about the bully and perhaps arrange to meet with the parents with teacher as mediator. anon


Preschooler's remarks about skin color

Sept 2008

My almost 3-year-old has entered a very literal phase that recently has manifested itself, among other ways, in (loudly) identifying people by their outward appearance. For example, the other day at a restaurant, when our Indian server handed me a menu, he said ''Mommy, what did that brown man just give you?'' Needless to say, we had an awkward little moment at the table. He also has begun to identify good friends by skin color (''Mommy, that kitty is brown like my friend Jennifer!''), and I'm not sure how to run with that. (My response so far has been along the lines of ''Yes, she is brown like Jennifer - we all have different colors...look, your eyes are brown and your sister's are blue!'') I have 2 questions about this, really. One, how to deal with those situations in the moment, when the person being referred to is easily within earshot? And two, how to have a meaningful, ongoing (and preschool- appropriate) dialogue about race and diversity at home? I do not want to squelch his newfound awareness of these things, because I think there is so much value and beauty in diversity, and I would like for him to learn to appreciate it and embrace it. I feel that telling him something along the lines of 'it's not polite to talk about that' would clearly be implying there's some sense of wrongness involved, and I absolutely don't want to go that route. So, how to talk to a 3-year-old about a subject as complicated as race, and encourage him to appreciate the differences in others? Oakland Mom


Have you seen ''Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?'' by Beverly Daniel Tatum? She is a psychologist who addresses the formation of identity for both black and white children through the developmental stages. Her chapter on the early years is too much to go into here, but especially useful, for example telling children specifically about melanin in skin. You are absolutely right that you don't want to squelch questions and have your son think that it is shameful to notice and talk about race. The book also gives ways to look at assumptions kids tend to make as they try to make sense of race. Highly recommended. asymetry


Read ''Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria'' by Beverly Daniel Tatum PhD

Race is not something that should be an uncomfortable topic. We need to discuss it more and more and more. For too long parents and educators have dismissed it because it is difficult, and this has fostered many children to feel that their own questions and feelings about race are wrong or stupid or unworthy of conversation. If we never talk about race, it will forever brew and continue to produce feelings of superiority and inferiority among us. say it loud, i'm black/brown/red/white and proud


Check out these articles on race from greater good: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/ In particular, the article ''Rubbing Off'' is about how to foster tolerance in children and how small children see race. brown mom


Why is it racist to describe someone's physical appearance? Race/racism has to do with assigning specific meanings to differences, not the differences themselves. I don't think you should convey to your child that it's impolite to discuss these things - rather, see it as an opportunity to talk about the wonderful range of skin tones that exist, including your own, and how that can relate to ancestry and sometimes culture. Have your child see it as something wonderful AND show them that they are a part of this - they look different and have a ''race'' too. It's not wrong for your child to voice an observation, but it's your job to provide some context so your child learns appropriate boundaries and the other person doesn't feel like they're a science lesson or under a microscope. if you feel uncomfortable about them being so vocal, you can tell your child that while skin tone and other differences are interesting, people don't always want to talk about these things with people they don't know. I think parents will be a lot more successful sorting out how to teach kids about race when they themselves have had a chance to think about their own feelings and thoughts about the subject. --


I don't have great advice for you as my son is only 20 months old, but I can totally see him headed for this same phase. I highly recommend checking out www.antiracistparent.com and possibly posting the question there as well - they have an amazing moderator and community of parents that give suggestions on things just like this. good luck!


Hi! This is such a sticky situation. One of the reasons preschoolers are so 'outloud' about race is that they are in a developmental phase that is all about clasification. However, there is a lot of meaning that goes with those classificaitons in our culture, so it can't just be ignored. One book, that is specfically aimed at african american parents, but also very helpful overall is called: I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla: Raising Healthy Black and Biracial Children in a Race-Conscious World (Paperback) by Marguerite Wright. Sarah


I don't agree with everything in this book, but ''I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla'' does have some very useful insights into how kids (particularly small kids) think about color and race. The author makes the point that often their comments are much more innocent than we might imagine, b/c for us it is such a loaded topic. You might want to check it from the library. (BTW, this is a book for parents, not a kid's book.)


I think you hit the nail on the head when you said ''I feel that telling him something along the lines of 'it's not polite to talk about that' would clearly be implying there's some sense of wrongness involved''

I really don't understand why a child pointing out that a cat is the same color as his friend is a big deal. I think it's a big deal because you are making it a big deal. Was the Indian guy offended, or were just you? The guy is brown.....and you are beige. (I'm assuming). no biggie. I think the discussion of race makes us very uncomfortable and we would rather it never be brought to our attention and i think that is a problem. If he starts screaming at the top of his lungs that the brown man is somehow bad.....then you need to have a talk. I worry much more about my kid calling someone fat or weird looking. Just my opinion, we need to deal with our white guilt and acknowledge that people are sometimes brown and some people are the color of cats, chocolate, honey and chalk. That's what makes it all the more interesting. erin


Keep it simple! If you are descriptive without positive or negative connotations, you don't have to talk about ''race'' with all the complicated social connotations. My 6-yr-old understands that people move to CA from all over the world, and your skin color is determined by where your parents, or grandparents, or great great etc parents moved here from. He has been describing people by what they look like for about three years now, starting from when I gave him a bath and he pointed out that he and I ''matched'' and Daddy didn't. He understands that people come in all shapes and sizes and shades of brown- light to dark- depending on where their families came from. Recently he was really mad he has to wear sunscreen every day all summer and wanted to know why. I told him the lighter your skin, the more the sun could damage it, and I didn't want him to get burned. He was surprised--''You mean my friend so-and-so doesn't have to wear sunscreen because he's dark? I wish I had darker skin!'' We have talked and looked on the globe about where gets more or less sun. He has friends who are from (or their parents are from) China, India, the Phillipines, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and the two categories I grew up with: ''black'' and ''white.''

I think this kind of description is more meaningful to my kids than ''race.'' There are so many kids in his class that are mixed race (including him) that it's more straightforward this way. I just answer his questions matter of factly about how Gramma and Grampa's mom and dad came from Mexico and that's why Grampa is darker and learned Spanish first.

Maybe we're on the wrong track, but I figure if we talk about this now, we'll eventually get to why and how people came here and what happened then, as he's able to ask more questions. But right now he just wants to describe who he plays with at school. beige


4-year-old's comments about skin color

March 2004

For the past 9 months, my son, who just turned 4, has been commenting on the skin color of persons of African descent. When he sees an African or African-American person, he often says to me (in full earshot) of the person, ''Mommy, that person has black skin.'' His nanny, whom he adores, is African and he often says to me, ''Mommy, [the nanny] has black skin, but you and I have white skin.'' (I should mention that I am Asian and he is bi-racial -- Asian and Caucasian.) Interestingly, my son has never commented on, and seems completely oblivious to Asian or Hispanic racial characteristics. I'm not sure how to respond to his comments. On various occasions I've told my son (1) skin color is unimportant, (2) certain people have dark skin because they or their ancestors came from Africa where people have dark skin, and/or (3) we don't talk about skin color because it makes people uncomfortable. Nothing, however, seems to dissuade my son from making these comments. Sometimes he seems to think the whole topic is a joke saying, ''Mommy, so and so has a black face.'' Maybe I'm reading something into it, but it seems to me that my son is making some type of value judgment that darker colored skin is not as desirable as lighter skin. I have no idea where my son got his notions. I can honestly say that we have never discussed skin color or race at home. Also, we have African-American friends whom my son knows and likes in addition to his African nanny. My son's teachers told me that children his age are curious about racial differences and not to make a big deal of it, but I'm very embarrassed by my son's behavior around this issue. I grew up in a very bigoted small town and was very uncomfortable whenever someone called attention to racial issues, and now I can't believe my son is doing it. What should I do -- (a) ignore it, (b) keep trying to tell him that skin color doesn't matter, but shouldn't be discussed in public? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Embarrassed Mom


PLEASE READ--''Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting In the Cafeteria Together and other conversations about Race'' By Beverly Daniel Tatum. It is very important that you talk to your son about his questions and not try and quiet him. You will see in reading this book that his questions are normal but need to be dealt with by just explaining to him why people have different colors. His questions do not have the charge behind them that adults may have...he is genuinely interested....especially since your child is biracial I would highly recommend getting a little info. (as my children are mixed--black /white) and I have had to read about this stuff as well on an ongoing basis because this stuff will continue to come up! I also read a fabulous book that deals with this stuff for preschool ages...it is called something like ''I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla'' also written by a black child psychologist but her name escapes me. Good luck. These Things are Important


Another way to respond would be to agree and say, ''yes, that person has dark skin.'' It sounds as if your son is only making observations about what he sees and that perhaps he's making a game out of it because he is picking up on your discomfort with the situation. It's okay to talk about skin color, it's not ok to insult/demean/belittle someone because of it. another suggestion


I am a white woman who has a black husband & a bi-racial 10 month old son. From the discussions I've had with my husband & books I've read on rearing bi-racial kids, I would say that the best thing to do in your case is to be honest about it. Everyone is different in some way or another, even if the skin color is the same. Black skin is just as beautiful as white or brown, but unfortunately in America, the legacy of slavery and how blacks have been (and continue to be) treated makes many non- blacks feel ashamed to even discuss this subject. I personally don't think that talking about skin color should necessarily be done only in private, but that honest, open communication and dialog are the best ways to handle it. Maybe you should ask your son what he thinks about black skin. It's an obvious difference and nothing to be ashamed of, either by him or by your black friends/nanny/strangers. anon


It sounds more as if your son is just noticing race, rather than commenting negatively on it. This is quite normal for toddlers -- they notice skin color, disabilities (e.g. someone in a wheelchair) and so on, and comment on it to their parents, often asking why these differences exist. They notice differences, and they're curious about them, that's how they learn about the world. Sometimes this can be a bit uncomfortable for us, but the kids generally don't have value judgments attached (although we often read this into the comments, because of all the things we've learned about the issues involved). If you can come up with a calm, matter-of-fact response (like your mentioning that so-and-so's ancestors came from Africa, or maybe even just saying something about different people having lots of different skin colors, that's the way the world is), and not make a big deal of it, your son will eventually let it go. I wouldn't tell him that it shouldn't be discussed in public, as that might make him feel that there IS something wrong with having skin of a particular color. I also wouldn't tell him that it is unimportant, because it clearly is, to him, or he wouldn't mention it. Karen


sounds to me like your son is just making observations and maybe looking to you for confirmation/explanation. the racial issues maybe yours and yours alone. trying to shut him up will probably only have the opposite effect, same with showing your discomfort. telling him that people are similar to their parents seems like a good way to go and pointing out the differences and similarities in your own family might also interest him (include skin, hair, eye color any thing that stands out). does he have any african-american or african friends his own age? kids can talk about this on their own level and don't generally take offense at young ages - its good education for kids to have different friends even if race doesn't come up in conversation. ilona


He is interested in skin color - he is starting to notice the differences between people. He is making an observation about the world as he sees it - a correct observation, btw.

What I would do is either use this as a learning experience - yes, people are different, look at how daddy and I are different too and how you are mix of us, but only take it up to the point where he is interested. Or you can just acknowledge what he is saying and let it go.

What's really, really important is that you don't confuse observations with value judgements - and that by your attitude you don't let your son confuse them either. anon


My caucasian 4 yr. old son has said similar comments - he started pointing out pictures, saying ''those people have brown skin - I have clean skin''. We've had a lot of talks, clarifying what ''clean'' actually means, etc. But in the end, I have to agree with him - that yes, some people have brown skin, some have really dark skin, and some people like himself have skin that's not as easily named - pink? yellow? really light brown? red when he gets a sunburn?

Talking about race and skin color makes us grown-ups feel uncomfortable, but to embrace and realize the differences and talk about them is all part of accepting and learning and understanding. It's not necessarily wrong to make the observation, just impolite to talk about it out loud.

My son has also told other friends and relatives that they're fat or short, and fortunately, after the initial hesitation, they laugh and say, yes, you're right.

But then it is up to the parents to explain what's socially acceptable - that's the hard part! But it goes along with teaching all the other socially unacceptable behaviors, so eventually they do get it. Another Embarrassed Mom


I noticed a couple of things in your post that might help you understand what's going on.

Your son is NOT commenting on race, but on skin color. As yet he has no concept of race. For that reason telling him that skin color is unimportant is only confusing him. Skin color IS important to a 4 year-old -- its just not any more important than other identifying characteristics.

Likewise, the statement ''we don't talk about skin color because it makes people uncomfortable'' is confusing because he's not uncomfortable, YOU are. He's 4.

You might have more success just asking him not to comment loudly about the people he meets -- rather than singling out the race or color statements. For him, color is just an adjective, not a political statement.

I am more interested that he says people have ''black'' skin, when so few actually do. It seems like that perception comes from a grownup somewhere. You might want to know what others are saying to your child.

For instance: After 3 weeks in a Berkeley first grade, my daughter came home completely frustrated, saying, '' I don't get it! They keep talking about black kids and white kids at school, but all the kids I've seen are brown and pink!''

I really don't think this is a problem unless your child decides color is an indicator, instead of just a descriptor. Heather


Isn't this kind of thing challenging as a parent?? I would urge you to join your child in talking about race rather than avoid it and teaching him it is a taboo topic.

What about, ''yes. That person has black or dark skin. Isnt it great how people can look different on the outsides? Doesnt it make life more interesting?.... Does your skin really look white to you? ... let's look in this magazine and see all the differences we notice among people... this one has light skin, this one has red hair... this one is quite short... shall we make a collage showing all kinds of different skin colors?...'' I also recommend the book: 40 Ways to Raise a Non-racist Child by Mathias and French. Peggy


One of the best things about living in the Bay Area is the fact that we are surrounded by diversity and multi-culturalism. Your sons interest in this diversity is both understandable and desirable. Given your background, your discomfort with his curiosity makes sense, but perhaps you could find ways the channel that curiosity in ways that will help him learn tolerance and learn how to embrace the diversity that surrounds us. If the race issue is a source of shame and embarrassment and therefore ignored, one runs the risk of pretending racism does not exist either. We Americans ignore racism all the time, yet it's all around us. Anyone with first-hand experience with racism will tell you that race in fact does matter in America, yet we are ashamed of ourselves for it and try to ignore it. You worry that your son may be making value judgements based on race, however this is a wonderful opportunity for you to help him develop an understanding of differences, and to acheive a level of tolerance that was missing from the people in the town you grew up in.

With that said, it seems that your son is simply curious about different skin colors. Ignoring his curiosity seems to make him even more curious. Let him work it out. Get him some of those multi-cultural crayons, maybe you've seen them. They represent all the different skin colors. I think Crayola makes some. Also, Lakeshore Learning Center in San Leandro has not just crayons, but coloring books, clay, dolls, and a whole range of things for kids that help teach racial diversity and tolerance. This can be a good thing for your child. Let him have fun with it. Diversity is good


Hi, Your comments really struck home because we have had the same experience with our 2 kids blurting things out that sounded really inappropriate. Also, as a white teacher who taught in an all African-American school, I got it in reverse from the kids who commented on my skin, eyes, and hair.

My suggestion is to step back and realize that these are little kids and they are simply curious. They do not intend any harm, nor is harm usually taken by others. Humor and kindness replace embarrassment really easily. For instance, I'd say to my kids after one of those ''his/her face is so dark'' comments ''Yeah, isn't it amazing how we all have such different skin, eyes and hair. I think it's really beautiful.'' That came easily because it was truly how I felt and also how I hoped my kids would feel.

As they've gotten older, we've been able to talk about pigmentation and how we inherit our looks and how different races have developed physically, but it's always grounded in the simple admission that yes, we are different on the outside, but pretty much the same on the inside. In addition, we've reinforced that there is no value derived from the shade of skin or eyes or hair. This is tough in a world where children are taught that ''people with blue eyes are the children of the devil'' as I heard from one of my 3rd graders and white skin is more beautiful than dark skin as I've heard from both white and African-American children.

When my class commented on how pale I was deep in the winter and if maybe I was sick, I said ''no, I'm healthy but working toward invisibility except my freckles keep messing me up'', and got a good laugh.

Relax and be thankful that your little boy is observant and talking to you about what he sees and thinks. Leanne


My son is the same age as yours, and he's also taken to commenting on skin color, especially very dark-skinned folks. When he says ''That man has dark skin,'' I say, ''Yes, he does.'' This is often followed by ''Why does he?'' I say basically the same thing you do---people from different parts of the world have different skin tones.

I absolutely don't shush him or tell him it's not something to discuss in public. He's merely commenting, noticing people around him. He's not making any judgment, and from what you say, neither is your son. If your son is merely commenting, as mine is, I don't see that it's necessary to say that skin color doesn't matter---it'd be like saying it doesn't matter that that car's hubcaps rotate or that that's a really big loaf of bread (other things he's commented on).

For me what makes the most sense is to hear what he's (really) saying and acknowledge it. I think ignoring, shushing, or telling him that's not something to talk about in public would make it a bigger issue than it is, possibly confuse him, and also potentially make him feel ashamed and less likely to pose questions, certainly none of which you intend. DL


I'm not sure why it embarasses you that your son is noticing that people have different skin colors. Undoubtedly, the people he's pointing to know they have black skin.

My proper southern aunts (who thought they were very liberal) only whispered the word ''black.'' As in, ''My friend's neighbor, the one with the new car, she's (whisper) black.'' When I was a child, this made me wonder if it was a secret that the neighbor was black, or if it was something bad to be black. (This was before we had to say ''African-American.'' I'm sure if my aunts knew the new terminology, they would whisper it, too.)

I'd say if a person with black skin is offended that a 4-year old is pointing it out, then that is a person looking for something to be offended about. My African-American friends are not offended to be called ''black'' or have their skin described as ''dark'' or ''black.'' It's just the facts. reformed southern belle


There is a third option that is neither ignoring the remarks about race nor disagreeing with them. That is simply to say, ''Yes, honey, that's right.'' Very often a child who makes remarks like this is simply observing something, and wants those observations to be heard. Your upset reactions are puzzling to him, and he's trying to find out what's going on. If you respond calmly, as if he were saying ''The sky is blue,'' I bet you'll find this behavior disappearing naturally. Ann


Saying that ''race doesn't matter'' is kind of silly, I have always thought--since it obviously does matter. So I have always taught my children that yes, some people have black skin and some people have tan skin and so on. I use their observations as a jumping-off to have conversations about differences in race and to allow them to have their viewpoint. You can say something like, ''In the olden days some people thought people with black skin weren't as smart. Weren't they silly to think that? What do you think?'' ''Do you think people with yellow hair are as good as people with red hair? Yes, me too!'' You get the idea. This ''not talking about race in our house'' perhaps is not something that should be a source of pride, but maybe makes it clear that it is time to have those discussions with our kids who live in this rather colorful Bay Area! anonymous


c) none of the above. It seems to me that your son is simply pointing out what he sees. I don't hear a value judgment in noticing that skin colors differ. It's true, there are many different skin colors. When my daughter made remarks similar to your son's, I replied by saying, ''Yes, you're right!'' as I would have had she said, ''That man is in a wheelchair,'' or even ''That tree has no leaves.'' It's not skin color that makes people feel bad; it's being treated in a negative way because of the color of their skin. From what you describe, I don't think your 4-year- old is guilty of this. unembarrassed mom


Please talk about it! We live in a very race-conscious society and pretending that race does not exist does NOT make it go away, and in fact it only enables racism by cloaking it in denial (how can there be racism if race does not exist?). Also, especially for a bi-racial child (I have three of my own), it is crucial to openly and honestly discuss race. Noticing and comparing skin tone is a normal observation for children and it is important to validate their observations. Your child will one day have questions about his own identity and the earlier you are able to talk about it, the better off and more secure he will be. If you are worried that your son is attaching different value to different colors, then the task is to unpack why he thinks that and talk to him about your ideas on that topic (''people of all colors are beautiful and interesting...'' etc.). Also, IMHO, so-called ''colorblindness'' (refusing to admit that color exists or matters) diminishes people and takes away from the totality of who they are and/or the reality of their experiences. Color is not ALL that people are, but it is a PART of who they are, and to me, it is a very cool and important part. --Talking about race to my kids


My daughter does very similar things in a very non-judgemental way. She is the same age as your son. I am caucasian and my husband is half Japanese. I believe she also comments more frequently on people of darker color skin, i.e. african- american, Samoan, Pacific Islander. I don't feel embarrased. My husband can sometimes feel embarrased. I think it is a very normal thing for children to 'blurt'. If you feel that he should be more sensitive to other people(s) or your own feelings, you might try saying to him that there are some things that we don't 'yell' or 'blurt' out,...like we don't blurt out that we are having to poop or that the man over there is fat or that the lady over there has 'ugly' hair. (I'm really not trying to trivialize this issue because i do feel it is important). Maybe somehow you can integrate into a conversation with your son that sometimes people are sensitive about certain things and that you are sensitive about color and that other people are too. It's okay to talk about but not in a loud or hurtful way. liz


My 3 year old was doing this for a while. She told my husband(who's white) that he's brown because of the hair on his arms, she would tell me I'm white because I'm lighter skined than she is. She would tell the nanny who is Asian that she's brown, she tells her African American preschool buddy that she was brown. She even once did it to some friends of ours, a couple that is mixed race. I said something like, different people have different skin colors and ignored it other than that. I haven't noticed it for a while. I did notice it happening more when we were watching the ''Best of Elmo'' video where Elmo and Whoopi Goldberg discuss being brown and red. Fortunately we are surrounded by many different cultures and colors in the Bay Area and children get exposed to many different things. I really think they are just innocently noticing the differences between themselves and their surroundings. Been there


4 is an age when kids start to take note of differences between thenmselves and other people -- in a way, to figure out where they, themselves, fit in by classifying people on all kinds of dimensions. Skin color is a particularly easy one, because the contrasts can be very noticeable. If it's any consolation to you, research has shown that kids don't really start to understand the social implications of different ethnic groups (including their own) until about age 6. So it's probable that your child is not being racist -- just observant, in his own way.

However, it also sounds like he's picking up on your sensitivity about the issue and starting to respond by testing you a bit. It's completely understandable that you would want to make sure he does not develop racist attitudes, but to him, skin color really does matter! (Though not for the reasons you fear.) There is nothing wrong with telling him that it's impolite to talk about other people in their presence, but telling him not to talk about it all will simply give the subject a forbidden air, and make it much more attractive for him when he wants to push your buttons.

Try asking your son what he finds interesting about different skin colors, instead of assuming that you know what he's trying to communicate with his comments. That way you'll open up the topic for discussion and make it less of a taboo, and get a more accurate sense of just where he is at with the whole thing. Keep the conversation at his level, and resist the urge to probe for some sort of hidden agenda -- if you keep looking for it, he might tell you what he thinks you want to hear, in order to please you (4 year olds really do want to please!), and that will only increase your worry.

All in all, it sounds like your son's teachers are right. Take their advice if you can and don't be overly concerned ... or embarrassed. Lauren


I have no special training or experience on this subject, but I have worked with children and trained staff who work with children for many years. My advice is to prepare yourself to have a conversation with your son the next time he brings up the subject (turn it into a ''teachable moment''.) When he does, you can say to him, ''It seems like you are noticing and thinking about differences in skin color a lot lately. What do you think about that? Do you have any questions?'' Whatever his response is, it will probably lead you to more insight as to why he is is making these references.

Remember that your son is only 4 years old and, generally, people should and do understand that. It's good that he is sharing his ideas about differences now, so that you can help him form his opinions. Good luck. Paula C.


Your son is making observations that are true. You are the one with the fear of value judgements, because you know that there are people in the world who judge according to race. But I'm not sure that telling children that skin color ''doesn't matter'' is helpful--because, really, that's not true, either. It matters, it's a part of an individual's identity, and not necessarily in a negative way. What about saying, ''Yes, and you have white skin with pink places, and I have creamy skin with some brown spots (for instance).'' In other words, make it not about the person who your child is observing, but just about your kid noticing how things and people look around him. It's possible that your sensitivity about racism is priming you to make your kid think it's not OK to talk about skin color at all. What is really not OK is to make judgements about people because of their skin color. Those are two different things. Donna


My son did the same thing at the same age. He also added to my shock and embarrasment by stating in public that he ''didn't like people with dark skin as much.'' It was awful & scarey.

At the time I attributed his comments and new found awareness to a recent ''diversity sensitivey'' module at his very diverse and wonderful preschool. Perhaps it was also just normal for the age.

My approach was to do much what you are -- calmly explain that it's not polite to comment on people's appearance, especially in public; and to ask him how he'd feel if someone made a similar comment about him. I also pointed out that he did indeed have many friends with dark skin. Eventually he got the message that what he said was not nice and not true. Thankfully it was not a longtime issue. SJM