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At What Age

Yesterday I talked about how I'm working with a group of women on speaking to children about bullying and accepting differences. So yesterday when I took Makenna to the park five little kids, (3 girls and 2 boys) were running around going up and down the slides. As Makenna made her way up the steps and to their level, she couldn't get pass their little huddle. I stood below curious what type of interaction was about to take place. One of the little girls said, "I love Hello Kitty too!" Makenna was wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt. The other little girl also expressed her love for the t-shirt and the boys did what boys do, showed how they were King of the slide and could go down head first. They all played with no other exchange of words - just laughter as they chased one another.

At what age do we tarnish our children's acceptance - they aren't born with judgements and hatred.

Not one of the kids mentioned Makenna's skin color or curly hair, but we all know with age that's going to change. She's light skin with light color eyes, which brings more intolerance her way within the black community as well.

I want to share something that we discuss with the kids when we go to their classrooms.

Did you know that over 99% of all of the cells in all of our bodies are exactly the same, no matter where you're from, what race you are, whether you're male or female, have a disability or are an all-star athlete - we are all more than 99% the same.
That less than 1%, determines who we are as individuals.

That's what we're discussing with middle school and high school age, but maybe we need to begin this conversation in kindergarten. What do you think?


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