How Parents Can Create Diverse Minded Kids.

Advice from a transitioning kid —

I’ve always loved learning about history. By learning about the past, I felt that I became more conscious of the present and the tendencies of human nature. After learning about the Suffragettes in Britain, I understood the very recent struggle for women to gain equity in all societies. After learning about the Cold War, I understood why the West was so wary of Russia. After learning about the Freedom Riders, I understood how young people could make tangible change. This list could go on and on, but the point I want to make is that history is important. It is a window into who we are as people. This is why it is so important to begin teaching children world and personal history from a young age.

What are the challenges of teaching a child a diverse history? Well, many people are naturally narrow-minded. This is not a fault of their own, but simply the environment they were raised in. In this day and age, people assume that parenting is synonymous with osmosis. Because of this, many kids become disadvantaged because their parents assume that they know or will eventually know certain chunks of knowledge. Two of those chunks of knowledge is personal and world history. It shocks me how many children I come across who have no idea what the Holocaust is or even South African apartheid. Unfortunately, there has been a lie told to people that you should let the education system take care of all your children’s knowledge. I greatly disagree with this notion. It is impossible to teach a child their own history and the history of others in the span of eight hours a day — especially when history and social studies are not necessarily at the top of the education agenda.

But Gabrielle — Where do I start?

My mother is an avid reader. She always has been and she always will be. With that, I was fortunate to have someone who frequented Chapters so much that I questioned if it was my second home. The older I became, those initial years of spend hours scouring over books became invaluable. It created a love of reading and an innate comfort around absorbing knowledge through books. If I was self-indulgent, I would say that it was my own initiative. I’m not self-indulgent (right now anyways), so I would have to say it was my mom going to the bookstore and picking out books and magazines for me to read as I was in the picture book section. She would intentionally leave documentaries on or call me to come and watch one with her. We would have discussions about every book I read and movie that I watched. In those discussions, she would ask me questions and get me to think about what I had watched. It was in those moments that I learned a lot about the world and myself.

The greatest problem with my desire for parents to teach their children about their own history and world history is that parents can only give what they have. If a parent does not have this knowledge, they can not give that knowledge. All I can do is implore parents, guardians, and mentors to be intentional with gathering knowledge personally. It will greatly nurture your children in the long run and greatly impact future generations. As Frederick Douglass taught us — education is power. I was greatly impacted by the intentionality of my parents home education and I know that any child would greatly benefit from that. By taking an hour or even thirty minutes to look for resources online, you create a child that will be more in touch with the world they live in and the people that live in it with them.

How Does this Connect With Black History?

I fundamentally believe that when a person, from any background, is exposed to stories from other people in the world — they are less likely to be hostile or wary towards them. The reason? They see that there are more commonalities than differences. As a black person, reading your history provides you a sense of responsibility that you must carry on the tradition of those who sacrificed before you. As a person from any other background, reading black history allows you to be inspired by the characteristics of perseverance and excellence that you find in the stories. By doing this, you create diverse kids. Kids who have something in common with anyone they meet.

Until next time,

G.