Talking to your kids about racism

Young Black women hold up signs during the 'No Peace Until Justice' march in downtown Ottawa on Friday, June 5, 2020.

OTTAWA — The ongoing protests and marches happening in the United States and here at home have caused some children to ask their parents what is happening, and why.

Educating your kids about racism starts at an early age.

“I think there’s a difference between teaching racism, and preparing for racism,” says Otis Coker. He’s a parent in a multi-race family with an 8-year-old daughter.

“A lot of the conversations unfortunately start when certain things happen - whether or not it’s what’s going on right now in the world, or if there’s been some form of verbal abuse in school; so we’ll have those conversations there.”

Timothy Stanley is a Professor Emeritus, with the Faculty of Education and Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies at the University of Ottawa.

“People of colour, Indigenous people don’t have the luxury of explaining racism or not to their children, because it’s a reality that they face.”

He says that no matter what your background is, you can start teaching at an early age. Stanley recommends start by explaining.

“People come in many different shapes and forms, and backgrounds - and what really counts is how they treat the people around them, not those differences.”

Stanley says that inclusion is one of the best teaching moments,

“If somebody in the school yard is calling someone a racist name, you talk to the person who is being called a racist name; you ask them, invite them to come and play with you that day, for example.”

HOW DO YOU PREPARE CHILDREN FOR POTENTIALLY BEING VICTIMS OF RACISM?

Stanley says, “It’s very important to teach them that this is not their fault…That they need to actually talk to some body about what happened.”

And, to keep the conversation going,

“This is a conversation that’s not one that should be had just once, but it has to be an on-going conversation.”