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Children come into the world noticing. They notice sights, sounds, smells and the attitudes and emotions of people around them. They may not have language to describe what they observe, but they are lean, keen, noticing machines from their first breaths.

One of the things they notice 鈥� as early as 6 months, research tells us 鈥� is differences in skin color, hair texture and other race-based physical characteristics in the people they interact with. What they don鈥檛 do 鈥� yet 鈥� is create a narrative about those qualities. They may be interested, but at this point, says Dr. Jacqueline Doug茅 of the American Academy of Pediatrics, they are just 鈥� seeing.

They are, however, little sponges, rapidly soaking up the attitudes and emotional responses they encounter. By the time they are toddling and talking, they have begun to form opinions and responses of their own 鈥� again, before they even have words to articulate their thoughts. By the time they are 2, they have begun to internalize racial bias.

鈥淩acial attitudes are formed not only by what children hear, but by actions and reactions of those around them,鈥� Doug茅 says. 鈥淵ou may never say to your child, 鈥業 think such-and-such about race,鈥� but your child will absorb what you think and feel.鈥�

As health services director of Maryland鈥檚 Howard County Health Department, Doug茅 coauthored a policy statement for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) journal Pediatrics on the . Although progress has been made in the U.S. toward racial equality and equity, she writes, racism鈥檚 ongoing negative impact on the health and well-being of the nation鈥檚 children is clear. Failure to address racism will continue to undermine health equity for all of our children and families. The good news, she says, is that this moment represents an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future in powerful ways, for our children and for ourselves.

Just as we vaccinate our children early in their lives against polio and other devastating diseases, so we can inoculate our children against racial bias and provide them with lifelong tools to effectively address the biases they encounter. In the process, we can enrich our own lives.

As with all cultural change, the starting place is with ourselves, Doug茅 says. Confronting our biases and fears, examining our attitudes and consciously creating a wide, culturally diverse social network can provide the first steps toward profound social change. Make some new friends and take your babies with you. Your interest, kindness and compassion will model how you want your children to respond to people鈥檚 differences without your ever saying a word.

According to two , there鈥檚 even more to it than that. According to professor Kang Lee, these studies show that babies begin to show racial preferences by the time they 6 to 9 months old in favor or members of their own race and against those of other races. The cause, he says, appears to be a lack of exposure to other races. Prior studies from other labs indicate that more than 90% of infants only interact with people of their own race, which provides little to no experience with other-race individuals. Early exposure may help hard-wire awareness of 鈥渙therness鈥� in positive ways.

When it鈥檚 time to talk about race, Doug茅 wants you to know it鈥檚 OK. It isn鈥檛 racist to address the issue or answer and anticipate questions your child may have 鈥� particularly in this time when every media source is insistently broadcasting stories of race. When your child notices differences, there鈥檚 no need to self-consciously shush them: consider it a teaching moment, and one in which similarities as well as differences can be underscored. If you don鈥檛 talk to them about race, they could begin to fill in the blanks with the biases of the world outside your home.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important that you have these conversations in ways that are developmentally appropriate,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen you teach your kids the importance of washing hands to prevent the spread of disease, you don鈥檛 go into the whole epidemiologic, scientific background. It鈥檚 the same way with race. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that people have different hair colors, eye colors and skin colors, and doing that when children are very young.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 no shame to noticing. You don鈥檛 want to shame anyone 鈥� we just want to start from very young being conscious of how we create the narrative about how people are and how they can be.鈥�

One tip Doug茅 and Dr. Ashaunta Anderson, who cowrote 鈥溾�� as an AAP resource for parents, offer is when your preschooler notices and points out differences in the people around you in the grocery store or park, hold your arm against theirs to show the differences in skin tone even within your own family. Comparing and commenting about how our wonderful differences are will go much farther than trying to distract or shush a child who has noticed that people don鈥檛 all look the same. Or, if they say something biased, ask how they know that and gently correct the mistaken belief.

For most of our children, day care and school are the two places second to family where racial attitudes are learned. Though the coronavirus pandemic has limited many children鈥檚 exposure to other children, we won鈥檛 all be staying at home forever and Brug茅 says it鈥檚 extremely important for parents and caregivers to be conscious, aware and involved when it comes to what鈥檚 happening in their school and group situations.

According to a , racial profiling of our children begins almost as soon as children enter preschool. Black children represent 18% of preschool enrollment but 48% of children receiving more than one out-of-school suspension. We are talking about 4-year-olds.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a role for parents to play in terms of making sure that the environment is supportive of all kids and reaching out to teachers, the board of education, whomever they need to get involved,鈥� she says. 鈥淏eginning from an early age, parents can educate their children to speak up about things they see that are unfair or wrong. Depending on the age of the child, a parent might need to step in and say, 鈥榃hat you said there is probably not the nicest thing to say,鈥� when they observe stereotyping or bias. Again, this models effective behavior even starting at a very young age.

鈥淭here are always opportunities to teach our children to not just stand by but to actually help to make a difference when they can. If they鈥檙e too young or uncomfortable to intervene themselves, we can teach them to tell their teacher or another adult.鈥�

Doug茅 says she is encouraged by the massive energy and awareness behind the Black Lives Matter protests that continue to take place throughout the country and particularly the participation of people who previously might not have thought that racism directly affected them.

鈥淭his is really an 鈥榓ll-and-everyone鈥� situation now,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like, 鈥極h, the Black people have it,鈥� because that鈥檚 not how change happens. Look at the Civil Rights Movement. Yes, we have the historical figure, Martin Luther King, Jr., and all the other Black people in that movement. But if you look at the March on Washington, many of the individuals were not Black. They were white Americans. There鈥檚 been a long history of white Americans taking up the cause of justice. And when we鈥檙e talking about women鈥檚 rights and suffrage, men also took part in that cause.鈥�

鈥淭o move this country forward, it isn鈥檛 just the marginalized people who make that change. It鈥檚 all of us working together and coming in to help,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 know confronting all of this is uncomfortable, but it鈥檚 time to have these conversations and do this work.鈥�

Starting with our babies and our own circle of connections.

RESOURCES

• Online module: (Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences)
• : The American Academy of Pediatrics Parenting Website
• 鈥�,鈥� by Peggy McIntosh (Peace and Freedom Magazine, July/August, 1989).聽
• (TEDEd)
• (NPR)

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.