Search Results for: blog resources for talking about skin color

Adoption Blog Month in Review: August 2007

A major theme for this month in the adoption blog was discussions—especially discussions with your child, but also discussions with others. I began the month sharing my four-year-old daughter Regina’s questions about her droopy eyelid in Talking With Kids About Special Needs, and in Principles for Talking with Kids About Special Needs I discuss how I tried to use the same tenets for talking about her eye that I use when talking about adoption issues. Regina also figures prominently in the next blogs. She told me, “I Don’t Like My Skin”. I stumbled through a response, shared in I Don’t … Continue reading →

Resources for Talking About Skin Color

In recent blogs I have talked about my reaction when my four-year-old daughter said she didn’t like her skin; she wanted my skin. (She is Korean and has light tan/beige skin, I am Euro-American and very pale with pink undertones.) The first thing that came into my mind was a segment on the Sesame Street video “The Best of Elmo”. (Note: this is different from the “Best of Elmo’s World” videos.) One segment guest-stars Whoopi Goldberg. Elmo tells Whoopi that he likes her skin, and then says he wishes he could trade his red fur for Whoopi’s skin and hair. … Continue reading →

Book Reviews: Books on Families

Two general books about families include adoptive, multi-racial and special-needs families that will be of interest to adoptive families. The photos in both will appeal to young children and the text will spark discussion for older children and their parents. Photographer Ann Morris ‘ trademark style is books with one theme, such as “Work”, “Hats”, “Carrying Babies”, and show pictures of people all around the world doing these things. The text is kept simple and the photos speak for themselves, although an index in the back provides a caption for each picture explaining what country it was taken in and … Continue reading →

Activities Fostering an Appreciation of Other Cultures in Elementary and Middle-school Students

My last blog discussed activity ideas for helping young children become comfortable with racial diversity. Here are some ideas for teachers of elementary and middle school students: –Make sure they know the science of skin color. A good book is All the Colors We Are: The story of How We Get Our Skin Color. This is a bilingual (English/Spanish) book with photographs and simple explanations. –I like to follow or precede a discussion of the science of skin color with an artistic or aesthetic look at the beauty of different skin colors. I like All the Colors of the Earth, … Continue reading →

Combatting Stereotypes in Children, Part One

Our kids are growing up in a global society where they will have to feel comfortable with people of other races and religions. I really recommend the book Hate Hurts: How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice and the resources I listed in my blog Resources for Talking about Skin Color. The Public Broadcasting Service website offers the following suggestions from experts who contributed to PBS shows: Be aware of how and when children’s attitudes are formed. Children develop attitudes and identity through their experiences with their bodies and their social environments. Very young children perceive differences in skin color but … Continue reading →

How Do You Choose A Country?

When you start thinking about international adoption, one of the first decisions you have to make is the decision of what country. In order to make a good decision about an agency, you really need to know what country you are interested in. Choosing the country seems like such a huge task and there seems to be so much at stake. I have to warn you, though, that it is also one of the easier decisions you will make on your adoption journey. That said, it IS an important decision to make and you should definitely take it seriously. When … Continue reading →