The Parent’s Guide to Teaching Kids About Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

The world is becoming increasingly diverse with every passing year. Statistics show that in the U.S. alone between 1980 and 2020, the white working-age population declined from 83% to 63%. At the same time, there’s a growing number of working people who belong to a minority. This trend speaks volumes and imposes a demand for more radical educational changes that can meet the needs of a truly diverse and inclusive society. While teachers already follow specific standards, teaching kids about cultural diversity should begin at home. 

You’ve heard this before – a kid’s mind is like a sponge! They absorb everything from their surroundings in the first couple of years of development. For this reason, some of the most fundamental things about our world, like its increasingly diverse nature, should be part of every parent’s nurturing practices. After all, we all want our children to grow up into compassionate and responsible individuals. So, how do we do this? 

Studies have shown that these traits, along with career stability and mental and physical well-being, depend on the child’s ability to form, and later maintain, stable interpersonal relationships, have a sense of belonging, and give and receive support from their community, among other things. 

All these things point to the same conclusion – teaching kids about cultural diversity becomes an essential ingredient necessary for optimal social and emotional development. For these reasons, we considered it important to write an instructive parent’s guide to teach kids about cultural diversity and inclusion. 

The Importance of Teaching Kids About Diversity and Inclusion

Multiculturalism is a term that best describes modern societies in which many different cultures co-exist together. These societies represent a mixture of races, religions, customs, traditions, ways of looking at the world, and values. 

Fostering inclusion and awareness of the benefits of multiculturalism helps children in many different ways. 

Firstly, learning about diversity makes children happier and more confident. This is because kids are not born with prejudices, but learn these destructive beliefs by watching grown-ups or other kids discriminate against others based on their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. More often than not, these experiences are traumatic and make the child feel unsafe (“What if this happens to me too?”), so they adopt a hostile behavior to distance themselves mentally from the victims (“I’m different and special, so this can’t happen to me”). However, these rationalizations are based on lies and have negative consequences for both the child and other kids in their environment. By teaching the child to celebrate uniqueness and be proud of it, we plant the seeds of emotional stability and empathy. 

Secondly, children become better persons. Teaching kids about diversity is more or less a moral responsibility of parents who want their child to be a good person. And, who doesn’t, really? Knowing that being different doesn’t mean being better or worse in any way, but it’s a natural part of life. It promotes a certain mindset that makes kids more willing to help others, to be compassionate, be better friends, and respect other people’s way of life.

Finally, by teaching diversity parents prepare children for a global economy. More and more businesses in the U.S are operating on an international scale. What’s more, according to a McKinsey report titled “Diversity matters”, diverse teams outperform less diverse teams by 35%, which most employers are keeping in mind. On top of that, the majority of people cite “diverse workspace” to be an important factor when looking for a job. Parents need to be aware that raising children who advocate for equality and celebrate diversity is vital for their professional development. 

When to Begin Teaching Kids About Diversity?

Now that we’ve seen how important it is to teach kids about diversity and inclusion, the question that logically follows is “when and how to teach diversity?” 

When it comes to the “right time,” there’s no right time. Children start learning from the moment they’re born. In the first and second year of life, learning happens mostly through the senses, they explore their environment and start interacting in a more meaningful way with the close family. During this time, you can show the child picture-books that illustrate the diversity in our society and make sure the toys are not limiting, for example, “girls only play with dolls and boys play with cars.”

Toddlers have already started developing a sense of self versus others, which means you can start discussing race, uniqueness, and sameness in a very simple and positive way. Also, allow them to bond and interact with many different children of the same age. 

Preschoolers should already be familiar with the topics and concepts related to racism, discrimination, prejudice, racial differences, religions, and gender differences. Of course, these concepts should still be very simplistically explained, but they can follow a more systematic teaching method. 

What’s the Best Approach?

The topic of inclusion and diversity might seem challenging since it’s very vast and touches upon every aspect of life. However, parents don’t have to worry too much about finding the best approach – there are many effective ways to teach kids diversity. 

Since we’re talking about an informal setting outside the classroom, teaching kids about diversity can take many forms – from watching international movies in different languages, cooking food from different cultures, and playing with kids in culturally-diverse centers, to learning about race, ethnicity, religion, gender, through science and open conversations. However, the most important and subtle way children learn is through observation and modeling. This means that parents can teach kids a lot by simply being exemplary models who openly discuss everything without avoiding sensitive issues. 

We believe that a balanced approach with a variety of different activities and teaching resources is most effective in a way that it keeps children motivated and engaged. Also, it gives them the opportunity to experience many situations in which they’re different or the same to the people in their environment and beyond. 

How to Teach Kids About Diversity

We’ve covered a lot of ground theoretically and now’s the time to translate that knowledge into a step-by-step guideline with practical examples. Regardless of whether you have a toddler, a preschooler, or maybe even a school-year child, this concept is easy to adapt and fits the cognitive capacity of young children. 

Define the Concepts 

When teaching kids about diversity, start with the basics. Before children can understand the world around them, they need to have a sense of self-identity which includes physical and physiological characteristics, customs (for example, going to church on Sundays, ways of greeting people, etc.), and cultural specificities (“We celebrate Christmas, but my friend celebrates Hanukkah”). These ideas of sameness or uniqueness arise spontaneously as the child interacts with its environment and makes observations. 

Don’t force a conversation before they’re ready. It’s very important for children to make these connections naturally, and once they do, you can explain to them why that is. 

Typically, children will point to things to show that they notice a difference or ask, for example “why is his skin dark?” when they’re looking at a movie or reading a picture-book. This is a good time to introduce the concept of race and talk about the four main human races. 

The same example can be applied to different situations. Children will point to ask about their gender (when they notice the male-female body differences), their religion (when they see that not everyone celebrates the same holidays), and so on. The sooner you expose your child to a diverse environment, the sooner they’ll become aware of how unique people are, which they’ll perceive as natural. 

Share Everyday Life Examples

Once you introduce or explain a certain topic to your child, make sure to give them real-life examples that are relatable. The topics of race, religion, gender differences, or even sexual orientation are complex and abstract to a child, which means you need to give them concrete examples of what you mean. 

Fortunately, this is a very easy job if your child is exposed to a diverse environment or educational material. Just make sure that each example is associated positively. A good example of this would be to make comparisons with people or things who are equally likable, have a similar profession, or do similar activities. Inspect books and avoid ones that might be stereotypical. 

Overcome Cultural Bias Through Science

We mentioned that children would start asking “Why.” This is not just a reflex, but it reflects back the child’s developing brain who’s trying to find a pattern or order in which the world works. Keep in mind that if you avoid or ignore these questions, the child will automatically fill in the blanks by associating different observations. While these mechanisms sometimes work perfectly, they’re also the main source of stereotypes in the absence of profound knowledge of why things are the way they are. 

The classical naive assumption “My skin dark because I drink chocolate milk” is a good example of how the child’s brain works, making associations and conclusions.

To avoid this, it’s best to turn to science. There are some amazing videos or educational series for children out there that explain all these biological phenomena that make us different in some way or another. But you can always explain them yourself, too. Using the example from above, you can say:

“No, your skin isn’t darker than others because of chocolate milk. It’s darker because of melanin, which is a very small thing we all have in our skins. It’s there to protect us from the sun which means it is good that we have it. But, not everyone has it in the same amount. People who have more melanin in their skin are darker, while people who have very little melanin in their skin are whiter.” 

Since melanin is related to the Sun, you can go on and show examples of the differences between people who have lived around the equator and those who lived near the poles, like in Oymyakon, Russia (the coldest inhabited place on Earth), for example. 

Practice Critical-Thinking Through History

Another important aspect when teaching kids about diversity and inclusion is to openly discuss the way the history is told and the implications that follow from that. Once they go to school, kids will start learning about the history of their own country, which is important for developing an identity and sense of belonging. Nevertheless, history is biased and can easily allure us into thinking we’re in competition or against each other and lead us into a separatistic ideology if we’re not careful.

To avoid this, teach kids about historical bias and practice critical-thinking by taking into consideration both sides in major historical events.

Just a side note: We absolutely agree that history is crucial and invaluable to humanity as it allows us to pass on knowledge transgenerationally without which we wouldn’t have advanced so much as species. We just need to know how to interpret it and which lessons to take out of it. 

The Hard Questions 

Depending on your child’s age, you’ve probably already faced a lot of interesting and sometimes hard questions. “But why is the world like this?” “But why are men and women different?” “But why do people say mean things to others?” 

There are two reasons why you should encourage and welcome these questions. 

First and foremost, they provide an insight into your child’s thoughts. This means that the questions are somewhat of a feedback to what extent the child understood our main point and how they assimilated the new information. It’s not uncommon for children to misunderstand or add their own observations to the conclusion you’re trying to make, which is why it’s important to have an open discussion at the end. 

Second, through these questions, the child is filling in the blanks and tests out whether their deducing skills work. Although they’re not aware of this, asking questions goes a long way in promoting the development of reasoning skills and critical thinking. 

Put it All Into Practice

Finally, put everything into practice! Children learn best when their senses are engaged, when they play, or when they experience the world first-hand. 

Mapping the World

Buy a big-sized paper map of the world, hang it on the wall and start mapping out the countries, the cultures, the attractions, the customs, and all other particularities that make the world such a fascinating place. Best of all, don’t see this as a one-time activity, but instead, turn it into a long-term project that the child completes as they learn more about people through Geography, History, and other Social Sciences. 

Tasting the World

Another way to have fun and still learn about diversity and inclusion is to start a tradition of trying out folk food of many cultures around the world. This can be a weekly or monthly tradition, through which the child can learn just how creative people can be and just how much different our preferences are – which is a good thing. It will also make them aware of their own preferences, which are not limited to their own culture specificities.

Exploring the World

Naturally, the best way to get a first-hand experience of cultural diversity is to travel and emerge oneself into the different cultures. Of course, that’s not always a possibility, nor is it affordable, especially now with the Covid-19 restrictions, but there are alternatives that are much more practical. 

You and your child can visit heritage museums and gardens that are dedicated to the presentation of historical and cultural information about a specific population. Alternatively, you can check our National Geographic’s fantastic virtual events, such as the “WOMEN: A Century of Change” exhibition, bringing cultural heritage in your home. 

These three examples represent large-scale, ongoing activities, but teaching kids about diversity can be accomplished through reading books, watching movies, playing games, or engaging in smaller, educational activities. In the following paragraph, we’ll share teaching resources and activity ideas which will help you teach your child about diversity and inclusion. 

Resources for Parents: Teaching Diversity and Inclusion

On more than one occasion we mentioned that you can teach kids about diversity through educational literature, movies, games, and specific activities, which is why we prepared a list of some of the best resources on diversity and inclusion. 

Books on Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

• The Colors of Us by Karen Katz (ages: 4 to 8)
• The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler (ages: 4 to 8)
• It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr (ages: 3 to 6)
• Mommy, Mama, and Me (or Daddy, Dada, and Me) by Lesléa Newman (ages: 3 to 7)
• Pink Is for Boys by Robb Pearlman (ages: 4 to 8)
• Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang (ages: 3 to 7)
• This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World by Matt Lamothe (ages: 5 to 8)
• Princesses Save the World by Savannah Guthrie and Allison Oppenheim (ages: 3 to 7)
• Mary Wears What She Wants by Keith Negley (ages: 4 to 8)
• Everyone Matters by Pat Thomas (ages: 3 to 8)
• I Am Enough by Grace Byers and Illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo (ages: 4 to 8)

To consolidate the knowledge from these books, head over to our website where you’ll find some amazing worksheets on many diverse topics that your child can practice on. 

Children’s Movies About Diversity

• Akeela and the Bee (2006)
• Coco (2017)
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
• Wadjda (2012)
• Moana (2016)
• Monsters University (2013)
• Free To Be You And Me (1974)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Big Hero 6 (2014)
• Dancing in the Light: The Janet Collins Story (2015)

Games and Activities That Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Since we understand how hard it is to organize a group event during the pandemic, we made a list of digital diversity games and activities. 

• TinyBop – a digital educational platform that features mobile apps on a variety of diverse topics, like the app “Homes” which explores different homes from all around the world. 
• Wee You-Things – an interactive book and mobile app designed to encourage kids (ages 3-7) to respect differences. 
• Interactive Diversity Solutions – a platform designed to get people thinking about diversity and unconscious bias. 
• Molii of Denali – an adventure game through which kids learn about cultural diversity.

Before You Leave

Diversity is such a vast topic that touches our lives in many different forms, from bullying in school to subtle prejudice about people’s capacities, self-confidence, interpersonal relationships, and career success. The fact that so many things depend on our ability to recognize and celebrate the differences that make us unique, parents need to encourage diversity of thought, respect, compassion, and tolerance from the very beginning. 

Hopefully, our article on teaching kids about cultural diversity will serve as a particle guide for parents to achieve these goals. We made sure to cover this topic theoretically, as well as give practical examples and specific resources that are ready-to-use. 

Another way to support parents is by offering high-quality worksheets on many diverse topics, which can be utilized in the classroom, homeschool setting, or an informal learning environment. 

Finally, don’t forget to check out our blog where we regularly share insightful articles on the current issues in children’s education for both parents and teachers.