Kidsburgh Article Encourages Caregivers to Talk to Children About Race

A new Kidsburgh article posits that not only is it beneficial to talk to young children about issues revolving around race - but it can be harmful not to do so.

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The article, Kidsburgh Guide: Talking with Your Kids About Race, notes that caregivers “teach children how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ to look both ways before crossing the street, and to be kind to their classmates.” But many parents find themselves unsure of what to say if a child asks them about another child’s skin color.

Medina Jackson, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s P.R.I.D.E. Program (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education, told Kidsburgh that she helps families and educators to build the tools to answer such questions. 

Jackson noted that children are not colorblind and that waiting to discuss race with them can be harmful.

“Children are already having racialized experiences, receiving messages about race, and assigning meaning to those messages and experiences,” she told Kidsburgh.

Jackson said she defines positive racial identity as a child’s ability to feel good about themselves regarding their race and the collective racial family to which they belong. She added that for older children, a strong sense of racial and ethnic identity has been tied to higher self-esteem, better academic performance, and greater resilience.

In the article, Jackson makes suggestions for caregivers on how to talk to children about race and shares some resources for further reading.

She broke down the method for approaching the topic with children into three strategies:

• Be proactive

• Be responsive

• Be reflective

To learn more about Jackson’s strategy, check out Kidsburgh’s article.