It’s tough to teach little ones about anti-Blackness and police brutality because we think of children as innocent. We don’t want to “teach racism.” But if your kids have light-skin, or any kind of privilege, and they don’t realize that, you’re already teaching them racism.

Yesterday I woke up in a bad mood and just opened the convo with my son by saying I felt that way. I talked about police brutality, Trump, anti-Blackness, our privilege. I don’t want to confuse him. He’s 8. But at every step I’d ask, Is that fair? He always knew the right answer.

Teaching our kids feels like a frustratingly long game when things are so urgent. But I have to be ok with doing small acts or else what? And it’s never one conversation. It’s ongoing. No, your kid isn’t too young. They’re born with a radar for fairness.

I don’t have a formula in case you want help, so I googled up this link https://www.parenttoolkit.com/social-and-emotional-development/advice/social-awareness/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-race-and-racism

I’m especially interested in the mention of growth mindset. In other words, we all have to be ok with acknowledging our own failures because yes, we can each improve. Teach that to your privileged child. On race and everything else

Here’s a great resource I stumbled on by @stacyleekong @fridaythings for yourself, the teacher in this situation. Talking about race might seem complicated so it helps to have simple ways to frame it, like these rings of compassion https://www.fridaythings.com