How to Explain Racism to a Child

You can prepare your children to deal with racist comments and behaviors by explaining why it happens. For young children, you'll have to use creative ways to explain the issue, so they can understand what it means and why it's wrong.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 1 red apple
• 1 green apple
• 1 yellow apple

1. Tell your young children a story about how the red, green and yellow apples fight because of their colors. Cut a piece from each apple and let her eat them. Explain to her that even though they're all a different color, they're all apples and they're all sweet.

2. Find out if there's racism at school. Get your child to invite the kid being picked on for a meal. Plan something fun for them to do. When he goes home, talk about what a great time they had.

3. Remind your children to treat everyone as they want to be treated. Role-play a racist situation with your child being the one who's picked on.

4. Explain to your child that racism is a weakness. Make her understand that strong people don't have to make others feel bad and being kind to everyone makes you strong.

5. Teach by example. Your children will get just as angry as you when they witness racism.

6. Speak out against racist language and attitudes among family, friends and colleagues. Your children will pick up on it and speak out against it, too.

7. Get picture books for your children that detail the lives of great figures in the fight against racism, including biographies of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.

8. Join your older kids and get involved in charities that fight racism and discrimination. Create a group to address the issue in your community.