Biology before Ideology. Where do I start?

Something to remember in the early days of teaching antiracism in your home is to build the foundation of biology before tackling the bigger stuff.

It can feel overwhelming in the beginning, perhaps there is some uncertainty over how to best approach this topic with your children. However, I found that once each of my children gained a good solid understanding of the biology, we naturally started moving onto discussions about unfair treatment, injustice, equality, history, racism and activism. A focus on biology and vocabulary, is a great foundation and starting point as you begin or continue your journey in becoming an antiracist home.

What do I mean by biology?

I mean helping them understand the why behind our differences. Just like with all things body related, children are brimming with questions. Why is my hair curly or straight? Why are my eyes this colour? Why is that persons skin a different colour to mine?

Spending time understanding the human body, and in particular our skin and the role of melanin, is a great starting point and something that can be taught from a very early age. I loved seeing the penny drop for my kids as they learnt about the magic ingredient found in everyone's skin that determines all of our different skin tones.

When my son was 4 years old, we were driving along in the car and he saw a black man walking. He said, "Mummy that man has more melanin than me", with a big smile on his face! How empowering must it feel for our little ones to have the language to describe and explain what they see. They need to know that it's not taboo, it's something that is ok to notice and ask questions about, and they come to know this by us consistently creating a safe space for curiosity.

Our skin and the role of melanin is such a fun topic to explore together and I will be posting lots of creative ideas to help you teach your children. I'll make sure I link them on this blog post as they become available.