One of the primary ways we can cultivate a culture of tolerance, peace, and acceptance in our society is by teaching all children Black history all year around. By teaching Black history to kids, they learn about the fearless role models who persevered in the most challenging and difficult of times, moved forward, and achieved their goals against all odds.
At Standout Daycare, we believe that it is important to start teaching Black history to kids from the earliest age so that they can grow up to be upright, just, and fair citizens.
Let’s take a look at why teaching African-American history is important to kids of all ages, backgrounds, and races.
Teaches Courage and Perseverance
Courage and perseverance are two of the most important attributes in school and life. It takes great courage to raise your hand in class and answer a question. Courage allows your child to raise their head up high and face the unknown. If they fail at one task, perseverance allows them to not give up in the face of obstacles.
African-American history allows your child to learn courage and perseverance and teaches them to be unafraid of adversity. If Harriet Tubman could travel 90 miles in the dark on foot, guided by the light of the North Star, then children can do anything they can put their minds to as well.
Cultivates Tolerance and Inclusion
Through African-American history, children learn about racism and how to live a life of inclusion. The best way to do this is to become a shining example yourself and demonstrate inclusive attitudes to the kids in your daycare.
Make sure your daycare is accessible to children of all colors and backgrounds so that they can be exposed to different cultures. This way, children will learn to truly get to know them and understand diversity.
Explore Diverse Cultures
If the children in your daycare are interested in a particular subject, it is a good idea for you to encourage them to explore Black culture within that subject. This can include anything from art, music, literature, sports, and more. This will teach your children about the impact African-Americans have made in virtually all fields.
You can also hold a Black American history day at your daycare, during which you make African-American recipes in the daycare. You can also organize a field trip to a museum and find an exhibit that teaches about Black culture. There are millions of aspects of Black culture that young children can explore.
Teach Peaceful Problem Solving
It is important that children learn to solve problems, but they need to do it peacefully. People like Martin Luther King Jr. have made significant changes to the world at a time when society was so unfair and unjust that it can be impossible for young children to imagine.
One of the most common phrases children say is, “That’s not fair!” so when they learn that there was a time when people of color could not go to the same bathroom as white people, it makes no sense to them. And they are right. It makes no sense.
Hence, by learning African-American history, children can understand that unfair things do not have to remain, and they can make changes to the world in peaceful ways.
Instils a Love of Lifelong Learning
All of us want our students to have a thirst for knowledge. As daycare providers, it is your duty to ensure that as your students grow older and progress, their hunger for exploring, discovering, creating, investigating, and learning is not diminished.
You can encourage this by telling them stories about notable historical African-American people who were shining examples of lifelong learners.
For example, George Washington Carver was an inventor and scientist who had a very keen interest in plants and went on to become a botanist who invented hundreds of products using soybeans, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. He also discovered a new system that resulted in healthier plants and shared his knowledge with the world without any regard for profit.
When young minds learn of inspiring figures like George Washington Carver, they would also be motivated to learn more and discover and invent new things.
Bottom Line
Wouldn’t it be great if children could live in a world without racism, unfairness, and intolerance? The world would be a much better place to live in if our children grew up to know all the cultures around them and learned to respect the differences between them.
Do you want to learn more about how to make young children into upright and good citizens? Visit us at www.standoutdaycare.com and view the expert articles in our blog that help shows how to care for bright young minds in daycares.
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