How can modern parents raise the next generation to be free from corrosive gender and racial stereotypes?
This post originally appeared onThe Conversation.
These stereotypes go deeper than childrens beliefsthey can also shape a childs behavior.
Why do stereotypes develop in such young children?
Butour researchhas found that, to the developing mind, even these positive statements can have negative consequences.
For young children, how we speak is often more important than what we say.
In this study, children were introduced to a new, made-up way of categorizing people: Zarpies.
It is the form of the sentence, not exactly what it says, that matters to young children.
Language that uses specificsinstead of making general claimsavoids these problems.
Using specific language can also teach children to challenge their own and others generalizations.
My three-year-old recently announced that Boys play guitar, despite knowing many female guitar players.
Simply say, Oh?
Who are you thinking of?
Who did you see play the guitar?
Children usually have someone in mind.
Yes, that man at the restaurant played the guitar tonight.
And yes, so does Grandpa.
This response guides children to think in terms of individuals, instead of groups.
Parents can ask children who they are thinking of and discuss whatever specific incident they have in mind.
Sometimes children speak this way because they are testing out whether drawing a generalization is sensible.
By bringing them back to the specific incident, we communicate to them that it is not.
Every Interaction Counts
How much can this small change in language really matter?
But children develop their sense of the world through minute-by-minute conversations with important adults in their lives.
These adults have powerful platforms with their children.
