Resource eBlast June 2020
for families of children and youth with special health care needs
Talking with Young Kids about Racism, Police Brutality, and Protests

Raising a brave generation of children requires open, honest, and age appropriate exploration of race, racism, justice, equality, and anti-racism. It is an emotional time right now, marked by challenge, pain, and grief. This eBlast shares some ideas, tools, and resources organized by types of action we can take along with our children: listening and empathizing; acknowledging and talking; and activism. Engaging in some of these actions may help towards turning pain and grief into hope!
LISTEN and EMPATHIZE

Stories are worth a thousand words and they are the way we connect to and relate with other. Books are particularly important ways to begin conversations and share information with kids. Here are just a few links to the many amazing books that tell the stories that must be heard, to which we must listen, and that serve to connect us to each other as equal human beings.



ACKNOWLEDGE and TALK
Many are asking “ Are my kids too young to talk about race?” and along with that question many are indicating “ I don’t know what to say or where to start.”

Children are never too young to learn about race--the messaging need only be appropriate for their developmental age/stage. Indeed, the world around them does not wait for our children to be able to process the messages being sent out, nor does it always take care to ensure that the messages are anti-racist.

Start with the following guidance as a framework to answer the question about age and how to discuss: They are not too young to learn about race—a developmental infographic

Without specific guidance and conversation, children are likely to pay more attention to the negative imagery and messages of stereotypes, segregation, and violence that surround and bombard them on screens, on the streets, and all around.






TAKE ACTION
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