Started reading this thought provoking book by @farzananayani (not pregnant, just an over thinker and over planner). Will be sharing quotes in this thread for sharing and for myself to come back to.

First, some astonishing facts about age and race (p.9):

“At birth, babies look equally at faces of all races. At 3 mo, babies look more at faces that match the race of their caregivers.” Kelly et al. 2005

“Children as young as 2 yrs use race to reason about people’s behaviours.” Hirschfeld 2008

“By 30 months, most children use race to choose playmates. “ Katz & Kofkin 1997

“Expression of racial prejudice often peak at ages 4 and 5.” Aboud 2008

“By 5, Black and Latinx children in research settings show no preference toward their own groups compared to Whites; White children at this age remain strongly biased in favour of whiteness.” Dunham et al. 2008

“By kindergarden, children show many of the same racial attitudes that adults in our culture hold - they have already learned to associate some groups with higher status than others.” Kinzler, 2016.

“Explicit conversations with 5-7 year olds about interracial friendship can dramatically improve their racial attitudes in as little as a single week” (!!!) Bronson & Merryman 2009

It’s never too early to talk about race with children! Silence about race reinforced racism by letting children draw their own conclusions based on what they see.