Once you know that your child’s brain sees color and develops preferences based on how the world and people are presented to it, you can think more about what you as a parent present, and how.
One of the most important ways we present the world to children is through books—the ones we read to them, and to ourselves. (Focusing on books today because they have a strong, daily, visual storytelling component... I’ll talk about music & art next!)
In my house we present books that represent authors, characters & stories different from us—because they are BEAUTIFUL, they represent our own friends, our own city & world... and because they help us become the compassionate, LITERATE people that we are. I just grabbed a few of my kids’ all-time favorites that are on our shelves right now to share here! (There’s TONS of resources & lists with recommendations. I’ll include a couple below but sometimes you want to start with a few books that come from a friend. So here’s a few of ours).
I want to say something important about the meaning of these books to me and my white children: these are among *my children’s favorite books and authors, period*. Not their favorite “books on race”—their favorites overall. This is important to me to share, because I’m hearing many people right now feeling a strong urge to educate on race & justice, which is very good and necessary, and I want us to also remember the value of books as inherently teaching BEAUTY, REALITY, and CULTURAL LITERACY. **Teaching this means shaping our children’s brains to have a preference (unconscious bias) for diversity, reality, and cultural beauty.** This has always been, and will remain, my top educational priority as a parent. (Right now, as my older child studies the current events, she is expressing gratitude for this).
We are supporting our children's Optimal Brain Growth when we let them develop THE SKILLS OF LITERACY, COMPASSION, LOVE OF BEAUTY through stories. This will support antiracism in the family, without boxing authors & stories of color into just a category. THIS IS EDUCATION. It’s what the growing brain wants and needs.
Suggested resources:
Families must listen to DC author Jayson Reynolds on the Kojo Nnamdi show: https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2020-06-01/kojo-for-kids-jason-reynold-talks-about-racism-and-the-protests
For more books: https://www.teachingforchange.org/tag/antibias
And: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/22/books/23racebooks.html?mtrref=m.facebook.com&assetType=REGIWALL
3 of the books that have most impacted me over the past few years are Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility, and Ibram X Kendi’s Stamped From The Beginning. There are many, many more, but for me as a white woman, these are absolute required reading.
#antiracism #antiracistparenting #optimalbraingrowth #growingbrains #thebrainseescolor #antiracism #antiracist #antiracistchild #brainscience #parentingforgrowingbrains #growingbrains #optimalbraingrowth