They’re Not Too Young To Talk About Race
Young children notice and think about race. Adults often worry that talking about race will encourage racial bias in children, but the opposite is true.
Silence about race reinforces racism.
Image courtesy of Children’s Community Schools.
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Teachers, caregivers, and families can play a powerful role in helping children of all ages develop positive attitudes about race, diversity, and skills to promote a more inclusive and just future- but only if we talk about it. Approach these conversations with your little ones with an open mind, patience, and be receptive to questions.
Here’s how it works:
0 — At birth, babies look equally at faces of all races. At 3 months, babies look more at faces that match the race of their caregivers. (Kelly et al. 2005)
1 — Children as young as two years use race to reason about people’s behaviors. (Hirschfeld, 2008).
2 — By 30 months, most children use race to choose playmates. (Katz & Kofkin 1997).
3 — Expressions of racial prejudice often peak at ages 4 and 5. (Aboud, 2008),
4 — By five, Black and Latinx children in research settings show no preference towards their own groups compared to Whites; White children at this age remain strongly biased in favor of whiteness. (Dunham et al, 2008).
5 — By kindergarten, children show many of the same racial attitudes that adults in our culture hold- they have already learned to associate some groups with higher status than others. (Kinzler, 2016).
6+ — Explicit conversations with 5-7-year-olds about interracial friendships can dramatically improve their racial attitudes in as little as a single week. (Bronson & Merryman, 2009).