How To Talk About Race With Kids

WAMU 88.5 | By Charla Freeland

Published June 17, 2020 at 2:43 PM CDT

A girl holds a flower outside a memorial service in honor of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

After weeks of protests calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism, many parents arethinking about how to talk to their children about race.

But when is the right time?

Most Black parents don’t even have the luxury of figuring out the right time to talk to their children about racism. Chances are, they’ve already been impacted by it.

Dr. Nia J. Heard-Garris, chair of minority health, equity, and inclusion at the American Academy of Pediatrics, says that parents can begin the dialogue around race as early as two-years-old:

“Start with history and start with context. … Then you can start to build on that conversation to paint where we are now and how this has been going on for years and years and years, centuries. And that’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing now.”

And the cast of “Sesame Street” recently sat down with CNN’s Van Jones and Erica Hill to talk about racism and the recent protests in a town hall special.

We talk about other resources parents and educators can use during conversations with kids about race and the best coping mechanisms for children and parents of color who are faced with racism.