Raising Your Children to be Diverse and Inclusive

As a parent, you want to protect your children, and it's important that you protect them physically, mentally, and emotionally. Unfortunately, you can't be there all the time to protect them from every situation, but you can give them the tools needed to overcome some challenges - that they will face - while trying to navigate through their childhood years.

Who wants to be the kid excluded from the "cool kids" group at school? Who wants to sit alone at lunchtime? If your kid isn’t getting invited to social events or is the last one picked for the team, these are all examples of being socially excluded.

What Is Social Exclusion?

Exclusion is a form of bullying called relational aggression, or social bullying, and refers to using social networks, in the real world or online, to be mean or bully someone and tends to be one of the methods that relational bullies use.

Social exclusion can have negative impacts on your child’s academic and emotional well-being. Here are some tips to help you teach your child how to be inclusive while still allowing them to have preferences about who their friends are.

What Is Inclusiveness?

According to Merriam-Webster, to be inclusive means to be “broad in orientation or scope” and “including everyone”. When you're inclusive, it means togetherness, rather than division. Being inclusive is how we gain experiences and relationships that empower, enrich, and enlighten us. Your child will learn that what makes people different is what makes them special.

Diversity and Inclusion - Raising an Accepted Child

The world is so diverse, with various cultures, races, and languages, that it makes a wonderful place to raise open-minded, diverse, and inclusive children. Your children will experience many cultures and nationalities in which to build relationships.

This is why raising children with a diverse and inclusive mindset is important. It allows them to be tolerant, accepting, and empathetic towards other kids who may look different. Here are some ways to capture the power of your child’s emerging, youthful, open mind.

Some Examples of Inclusive Activities

The benefits of inclusion can be enormous for everyone involved, and children can learn real-time lessons about what it is to be inclusive. As your child begins to acknowledge differences, highlight those differences and explain that differences are what lead to diversity, and diversity makes the world interesting and unique.

1. Show Children How to Be Inclusive - Try teaching your kids how to be inclusive at an early age.

2. Evaluate Diversity Deficit - Remember, your kids watch everything you do, so evaluate how you interact with others in your friendships and your community.

Now, it's time to be honest with yourself. Do you regularly interact with people or friends whose religion, background, or nationality are different from yours? Do you accept people for who they are, or do you make judgments or stereotype others?

If your answers were not favorable, you’ll need to make some changes as well to stop your negative behavior if you want to have any chance of having inclusive children. How can you teach what you don’t practice?

3. Support Your Child’s Individuality - Encourage your child to not only value themselves as a unique and special person, but to think the same of others as well. Help your child understand that someone’s personality, beliefs, quirks, interests, and appearance are what make them unique and special.

When your child understands that every person is different, but, especially, being socially accepting shouldn't be a problem.

4. Don’t Go for the In-Crowd - Make sure that you discuss the “in-crowd” status with your child. It’s important that they know that the “in crowd” isn’t always the “best crowd.” Show your child that empathy, kindness, and respect are what’s important, as well as how to garner healthy friendships - as we know some “in crowds” can be cruel.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out - Encourage your child to reach out to other peers, for instance, have them introduce themselves to the new kid in their class and try to get to know them, or invite the student who sits alone at lunch over to sit with them.

When your child does this, he/she is letting the other kid know that they matter too.

6. Teaching Acceptance at an Early Age

When your child is able to notice differences, it’s time to start teaching them how to accept differences.

What’s Next?

Make sure that you introduce your child to preparatory programs that inspire them to develop leadership skills and confidence while promoting and developing the qualities necessary to succeed in a diverse, competitive, and changing world.