Equity topics matter deeply to parents of children who are starting to navigate the world on their own including subjects like bullying, gender roles, their digital lives, civic engagement, how to raise compassionate, self-sufficient, creative, emotionally intelligent children and more. With everything going on in the world, parents have to make a lot of decisions about how they teach about the world, people, and cultures. Raising children is a complicated task, but a vital part of it is teaching kids to appreciate differences among us all, and exposing them to it all at an early age. Equity keeps the human in being.
If you’re not certain how to approach certain subjects with children like diversity, equity, gender roles, immigration, divorce, grief, and loss, you’re not alone and books can provide many teachable moments about the world they live in. Whether it’s representation of minorities or strong female leads, learning to be inclusive of LGBTQ, immigrants, and disabled communities, or embracing body positivity, books can teach children about acceptance of themselves and respect for others.
Stories expose us to different people, places and lifestyles in a comfortable and entertaining way. They create “mirrors” for our children to see themselves and “windows” to view other people’s lives and through the lens of a character. Children learn to empathize with people who are different as a result. Empathy is ultimately built through collective experiences.
Empathy is important. Developing empathy helps children recognize the feelings of others and encourages them to build relationships with those who are different from themselves (Belzung, 2014). In order to accomplish this children must first be able to form a strong sense of self-identity and then be able to acknowledge and respect another’s identity. One way of doing this is by reading high quality fiction. Reading fiction provides a safe space for children to navigate the complex task of extending empathy to people they don’t know and to people who don’t feel like a part of their in-group (Decety, 2014: Pinker 2011). When children emphasize with a literary character they recognize the need for that character to feel safety and belonging. This translates to children wanting to create an environment of safety and acceptance for their peers. By identifying emotional connections and their impact in literature children will be able to understand how other people’s actions make them feel and how their actions affect other people. These are skills that encourage children to become responsible group members who care and advocate for each other.
Students who participate in school-based programs focused on social and emotional
learning benefit in multiple ways as compared to students who do not experience programming in social and
emotional learning. Increases include: 9% improvement in pro-social behavior; 9% improvement in attitudes about self, others, and school; 9% reduction in problem behaviors; 10% reduction in emotional distress; 11% increase in standardized achievement test scores; 23% increase in social and emotional skills (Durlak, 2011).
Adapted From Danielle Gonzalez ®2018© AMAZE ®2015©