Teaching Your Children Tolerance!!!: Part 1

According to Parent Magazine, December 2009 issue, imagine a world where child of all races and backgrounds understand and respect each other and grow up to be adults who do the same. It is possible with a little help from you.

Below, Katherine Whittmore gives some practical advice on how to achieve such a goal:

1. First, forget about "Color Blindness". The truth is that unlike parents of color, who probably encounter issues of race more often than they'd like, white parents can largely avoid the subject, if only because you think you don't call attention to racial differences, your children will stay "color blind" for as long as possible. Children notice race when they're babies. We all must talk to our children about race and prepare them for handling racist comments.

2. Don't wait for your children to bring it up: With other loaded topics like sex, drugs, bullying, etc., we might want to wait for a teachable moment or signals that our kids are ready to learn more. This strategy doesn't work for teaching tolerance. Micheal D. Baran, PhD., states that you must give your kids tools to understand the complicated social world. Talk to them about all the different people and bring books homes if you must. Starting at age 3 is not too young. A booklet recommended was Beyond the Golden Rule: A Parent's Guide to Preventing a Responding to Prejudice, from The Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance site.

Read tomorrow and get more ideas on teaching tolerance to your children.