Introducing Your child to other cultures from an early age will help them to celebrate diversity. Giving them an insight into the practices and customs of other people will encourage them to appreciate and respect how other people live their lives, it will ward off ignorance and generate empathy and understanding.
As a parent, you are your child’s greatest influence so it is important that you show them the importance of respecting other cultures. For some tips on how to get started, take a look at the following from an independent school in London.
Celebrate cultural holidays
Highlight cultural holidays on your calendar and as each celebration approaches, take the time to discuss the origins and customs of each event.
Then when the day arrives, have your own mini celebration. You could prepare traditional food and play music that would commonly be played by those celebrating.
You could even attend a celebration in your local community to really allow your child to embrace the festivities.
Talk about bigotry
Although this is a complex subject, it is important that children learn from a young age that prejudice and privilege does exist, and that some groups of people are treated differently based on their race, religion or cultural background.
Small children tend to have a basic understanding of fairness, and you can use this concept to explain that racism and prejudice is unfair, as some people are treated differently to others.
Older children will likely have some understanding of bigotry, so you can expand on this by discussing the importance of anti-racism, explaining that it is everyone’s responsibility to call out and condemn racism and bigotry.
Get reading
Introduce your children to literature that explores cultural diversity, particularly books which explore the lives of people from other cultures, written by authors who share that culture. This will give your child insight into the customs, thoughts and feelings of other people, generating empathy and awareness.
As they follow the story they will come to realise that although people have many differences, we have even more in common that unites us.
Disclosure: this is a collaborative post