Raising Race Conscious Children

Welcome to Raising Race Conscious Children, a resource to support adults who are trying to talk about race with young children. The goals of these conversations are to dismantle the color-blind framework and prepare young people to work toward racial justice. If we commit to collectively trying to talk about race with young children, we can lean on one another for support as we, together, envision a world where we actively challenge racism each and every day. Many of the blog's posts are geared toward White people but a community of guest bloggers represent diverse backgrounds and the strategies discussed may be helpful for all.

It starts one conversation at a time.

Quick Links


White lies we tell our children

by guest blogger Colin Stokes I was driving my family through a part of Boston we don’t usually traffic, and I heard my ten-year-old daughter from the back seat: “Why do so many Black people live in this neighborhood?” I…

My daughter’s charmed life and her contact with the service industry

by Sachi Feris As a White, upper middle class woman, my contact with the service industry provides a constant reminder that the legacy of slavery is inextricably connected to our present-day reality. I live near a block that houses a…

by guest blogger Martha Haakmat I woke up this morning thinking about what it means to raise race conscious children, and how some of us have no choice. I am sure this is on my mind heavily because I am…

Explaining “race” versus skin color to my three-year-old

by Sachi Feris Since we often talk about skin color, I wasn’t surprised when my daughter, while sitting on a bench in San Cristóbal, Mexico the other day, noted that her baby brother’s skin color is pinker and paler than…

Windows and mirrors: Reading diverse books with young children

by guest blogger Georgia Lobban Less than a year ago, my daughter (then four-years-old) expressed a dislike for her hair and skin as compared to the characters see often enjoys in books. “Mommy, my hair looks so silly!” or “Am…

Child labor and Chanukah in Chiapas, Mexico

by Sachi Feris Eight years ago, my husband and I planned a sabbatical-like trip to Mexico. We are finally taking this trip and are currently living in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico with a three-and-half-year-old and a two-month old baby. San…

“The world is unfair”: My head-on approach to talking about homelessness with my daughter

by Sachi Feris I want my daughter to see people who are homeless as people. I don’t want her to avert her eyes, as so many adults do when confronted with the reality of homelessness. One day, I saw my…

by guest blogger Sarah Halter Hahesy I am a White educator of third grade students in Brookline, Massachusetts. I teach in public school within a very wealthy and somewhat diverse population. Our minority enrollment is 41% (mostly Asian, and only…

Thanksgiving/Thanks-taking and privilege

by Sachi Feris One year ago, during the week before Thanksgiving (or Thanks-taking as I prefer to call it), I mentioned the holiday to my daughter and told her that we were going up to our cousins’ and would sleep…

"Why Didn't Her Real Mom Want Her?"

by guest blogger Kathleen Dennehy I’m standing by this ice cream trough, which is maybe 20 feet long, narrow and silver- just like a gutter one might put on a house. But this gutter is lined with aluminum foil and filled…