A Few Helpful Reads & Resources On Talking To Kids About Race & Racism

As a white woman raising white children I understand the privilege I have in even writing a blog post with a title like this. I started this post last year and it slipped through the cracks but now seems like an appropriate time to get it into your hands. Like me, I’m sure many of you are wondering how you can be an ally to the black community, what you can do to raise your children and our next generation in a way that puts an end to the racism and discrimination that has plagued our country for too long. It starts at home, and while there is much we don’t have control over, we do have control over the children we raise and the conversations we have with them. It is never too early.

If you’re feeling lost, here are some resources that would be a great place to start in educating yourself.

A collection of books about social justice.

The Conscious Kid – follow on Instagram and be sure to visit the site where you can purchase diverse book subscriptions for your kids, read interviews and more.

Common Sense has a great article on how you can use MEDIA opportunities to discuss racism with your children.

Raising Race Conscious Children is a wonderful resource, founded by two mothers with the goal of offering support to parents who are trying to have meaningful conversations with their children about race. I also loved this article on Cup of Jo (one of my favorite sites) in which Joanna interviews the founders of Raising Race Conscious Children.

Brightly has a list of books and resources that can help parents navigate talking to their kids about racism.

Books on my list to read:

Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded Empathetic Children

White Fragility (temporarily out of stock but you can get if you have a Kindle)

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria? (temporarily out of stock but you can get if you have a Kindle)

Kids Books

Here’s my list of kids books that don’t discuss the topic of racism but have non-white main characters if you’re working to diversify your book collection it’s a good place to start.