Talking to your child about anti-racism

The tragic death of George Floyd in the US over a week ago and the ongoing demonstrations across America and the UK, have shone a spotlight on the need to talk and educate about anti-racism.

It’s never too early to talk to your child about race, acceptance and equality and to introduce diversity in to their lives. To help start these conversations, we’ve compiled this list of resources. If you know something you think we should include, please do let us know.

Read

• National Literacy Trust has published book lists for children and young people of all ages to share black stories and promote black voices.
• National Geographic have published a great article called ‘Talking to kids about race’ which helps parents have an initial discussion with their children about empathy and compassion.
• The Embrace Race reading list provides a selection of children’s books to help have a discussion about diversity, justice and activism.
• The Week Junior has a report on the death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed. They also have some tips to help parents talk to their children about what they have read, seen and heard.
• The childline website has some information about racism and racial bullying with some more useful resources.

Watch and listen

• Podcast – Talking race with young children - some helpful tips on how to initiate conversations and be proactive with discussions.
• BBC Woman’s Hour – How to talk to your children about race and racism - some starting points for discussions and how to empower children.
• All Bugbears – a girl explains how she is sad when she sees people being racist - thoughts about how everyone is the same on the inside
• Newsround - Growing up in black America - looks at opinions from around America and the history of slavery.
• Horrible Histories – Rosa Parks - a short YouTube video all about Rosa Parks.
• From the US, CNN have partnered with "Sesame Street" for Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism, a town hall for kids and families. 

Follow

• The Conscious Kid  - 'parenting and education through a critical race lens.’
• The Black Curriculum - a social enterprise founded by young people in 2019 to help address the lack of black history in the curriculum.
• The Tiny Activist - introducing children to social justice.
• Inclusive Story Time - an introduction to black history for children.
• The blogger ‘Mixed-Up Mama’ has put together a blog on the importance of multicultural toys.