Sunday 30 April 2017

How do I approach and handle racial bias with my child?


Parent of a 4 year old daughter. I am starting to hear words and talk from her that worries me that she has prejudices against black people or people with a darker skin color.My daughter has friends of all backgrounds, has 2 close friends who are black as well and has never really said anything about them in that way. they are just friends. However, one of the show she watches, Yo Gabba Gabba, has a prominent black character/actor and she has said, on the side, how he is 'darker' or 'black' and how she doesnt like him because he is black.Honestly, the character is a bit of an oddball but I dont see how the color of his skin has anything to do with it.Of course television shows use the color black to associate as the bad guy. We also had local news on in the afternoon and I guess she picked up on the news' racial bias as well from stories about criminals.My daughter is VERY binary. We are a very open and accepting family, but everything is good/bad, boy/girl, friendly/mean to her. I feel like thats a mechanism children use, but it could be more unique to her, but I've tried telling her not everything is like that. She always asks the question 'is he a good guy or a bad guy'? 'Is she a boy or a girl?'. Even when President Trump is on TV, she's heard us talking about him and asks 'Is he a bad guy?'I dont know how on earth to handle this but its particularly troubling that she associates black people as bad people. We've toned down on the news and I've talked to her, but she still says off things about the character on Yo Gabba. After talking with her, she has said that she doesnt like him, but also says 'but I know he's not a bad guy'.I feel like this goes a wee bit deeper than one character on one show or maybe it is just him. I've spoken with her honestly about the stories on the news, etc but there is still this bias. What can I do? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2oXZiVu

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