Talking about race, bias and stereotypes with your kids can be a challenging thing. My fear is that because it is a challenging conversation many parents avoid discussing the subject altogether. Whether you are having a conversation or not your kids are learning from you. Your actions speak loudly as to what you believe about race and the value you give to those from different cultures. I believe that an ongoing conversation about, race, bias, and stereotypes is important for all of us to have with our kids, regardless of our race. Psychologist Allison Briscoe-Smith Ph.D. found that children of parents who talked more about race were better able to identify racism when they saw it, and were also more likely to have positive view about people of other ethnicities.
One way to have an open discussion with your children on a subject is to utilize media that they enjoy and can relate to. I think a great example of that on the subject of bias, stereotypes, and prejudice is the Disney movie Zootopia.
Zootopia is story of two animals, a bunny (prey) and a fox (predator) who build a friendship. Through the course of the movie that friendship broken by bias and prejudice, before forgiveness is extended and the relationship is reconciled.
Throughout the movie their are many great discussion points. During this next week I will share a couple of more posts with examples of how use the movie to generate discussion as well as discussion questions for you to use with your own kids.
So stay tune (you can follow this blog by submitting your email at the top right), and if you haven't seen Zootopia it is currently on Netflix or you can order it here.
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