Did you know that at 3 mo, babies look more at faces that match the race of their caregivers? That children as young as 2 use race to make sense of people’s behaviors? That by 30 months, most children use race to choose playmates?

2/6 Did you know that expressions of racism often peak at age 4 and 5? And that by age 5, Black and Latinx children show no preference toward their own racial/ethnic groups, whereas white children at this age remain strongly biased in favor of whiteness?

3/6 Did you know that talking to kids about race and interracial friendships can improve their racial attitudes in as little as a single week?

No, no you probably didn’t. And neither did I and I’m a pediatrician. I didn’t know until I explicitly looked it up bc it’s important.

4/5 I had to educate myself bc doctors aren’t taught this info during medical training. I am calling on all med schools, pediatric residencies, adolescent medicine and developmental behavioral pediatrics fellowships to include education on race & racial identity development.

5/6 Kids are never too young to learn about race. But parents need guidance on how to have these conversations with their kids. Doctors should have a basic understanding of how racial identity, bias and racism affect children at different points in development.

6/6 Doctors should also be able to point parents to additional resources.

Check out this link here for more tips on how to have this conversation with your child. https://www.theconsciouskid.org/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-race