Children and Diversity

It's funny, kids don't really need lessons in "diversity training". For them it's purely instinctual that a) other people are sometimes different than themselves, and b) most of the time it doesn't have any bearing on their interactions.

We've lived in this city for almost three years now, and I am so glad that we are in one of the most racially, ethnically, religiously, physically, and financially diverse cities in the Midwest. My children can go anywhere here and strike up a friendship with multiple other children who are completely different from them and it doesn't faze them in the least. Sure, they make comments like, "I was playing with Susie, she's the one who has the same skin as us," or ask why their new friend Roba wears scarves on her head, but they are honest introspections without a hint of bias.

Children have a naturally honest curiosity and will take your word for it when you give them an equally honest, unbiased answer. On the one hand, it's somewhat frightening because you never know what other parents/caregivers are teaching their own children, but on the other hand, what power parents have! This is how we can change the world for the better or for the worse, generation by generation.