What families (and educators) can do

Seeing another person’s point of view, rather than seeing others as foreign, unknown and unknowable is critical for developing acceptance of others. Children can be helped to develop non-prejudiced attitudes and behaviours in a number of ways:

• Awaken a sense of injustice in children by helping them to understand that fairness means treating all people in an equal way irrespective of their social background. The APS information sheets about helping children cope after community violence and tragic events may assist
• Expose your young children to people from another culture or background before they have formed their own biases and prejudices
• Seek out role models for your children of people from different cultures or backgrounds
• Teach children interest-based conflict resolution. A good resource is the Wise Ways to Win poster from Psychologists for Peace group
• Seek out non-racist books and films, and teach them how to detect racist and sexist themes in others they consume
• Tell children stories about people who have become famous for their fight against racism and injustice. Celebrate anniversaries of these heroes’ lives
• Ask your children’s school what they are doing to create a culturally diverse community. Offer to help them out.