As a biracial child it was fascinating to me the differences between people. I loved how my family was made up of different shades but others weren’t always as accepting.

I ran into a number of situations where I was confronted because of my race, and my parents were very intent on making sure I was completely secure in who I was. They always made me feel proud of my heritage on both sides and made me understand that others were just as proud of theirs.

I think that as long as children are made to feel that sense of pride and personal acceptance it makes it easier to be accepting of others.

You have got a great set of tips here that I think will go a long way if parents put them to use. Thanks for sharing

~Angel

Angel thank you for sharing about your experience! Parents are so influential and it’s awesome that you had wonderful support and encouragement from them–it does make all the difference in the world!

It’s funny, because we’ve had the opposite conversation. Dominic is fair like his dad, and when he was little he once asked if he could have some of the “brown lotion” that I used. I couldn’t figure out what he meant, we had pink lotion, white lotion, I’m opening cupboards and pointing to different lotions, until it finally was clear that he meant my foundation. He wanted to look brown like mama. I explained that his father was white and we loved him.

The way I’ve explained racial and ethnic differences is to point to nature. God made flowers of every color and shape, animals and plants, mountains and plains, etc. Did you know that potatoes were originally purple and tomatoes golden? Oranges were red inside! God loves different things, it’s we humans who try to make every thing the same.
.-= Ranee @ Arabian Knits´s last blog ..Frugality (Part XV): Holiday Shopping =-.

That is a great story! Just the other day, my daughter Jayda asked why her brown friend had a white mother. She was actually African American, but with really fair skin. So, I had to explain how people come in all shades—some tan, light brown, dark brown, black, etc… It’s funny when people say kids are color-blind—because they aren’t and I don’t think they should be! Like you mentioned to your son–God made flowers of every color and shape—it’s beautiful–there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging our differences. It’s only when we try to make one shade more important than the other, that we get into trouble.