Living in a diverse city does not teach a child about race. Parents have to do that on purpose.
A four-year-old on a playdate in Utrecht told her friend's mother that the girl's dad was scary because he has a brown face. An hour later, outside a supermarket, she asked whether he steals money too. Her parents are not racist.
Maya was born and raised in the Netherlands. Mo is biracial — a Malian father, a French mother, a childhood between Abidjan and Paris, fifteen years in the Netherlands. They are raising a four-year-old daughter here in the Netherlands.
In this episode:
— What to say when a child says something racist, and why you do not have to answer in the moment
— Why blaming the other parents is usually wrong, and what to say to them instead
— How to introduce race to a toddler or preschooler without a formal conversation
— Why the infamous 'Amsterdam's 180 nationalities' do not produce mixed friendship groups
Questions this episode answers:
What age should you start talking to children about race?
Does it make my child racist if they say something racist?
Is living in a multicultural city enough?
This episode is brought to you in partnerhsip with MamaSocial
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