These tips can support all families and educators. We’ve chosen these tips especially for Cumbria where the population is 98.5% white and it can be harder to find people who aren’t white to hang around with, which is a shame as our first tip would always be to support friendships and get to know people. Given that isn’t always possible in Cumbria, here are five easy ways you can encourage diversity in your child’s life.
1. Have more colour on your bookshelves.
Girls love to read Harry Potter, boys love to read The Hunger Games. In the same way that we want our little girls to read about more than princesses and our little boys to read about more than football, think about including stories that have different coloured protagonists in. The point isn’t to read stories ‘about race’ it’s just to include stories from other races. The impact on kids? Nothing more than hearing another voice – but how powerful is that?! There is a wonderful list appropriate for all ages from PG13 here. Younger children might like the following too.
LOOK UP! Nathan Bryon, Dapo Adeola, published by Penguin
Poo in the Zoo, Steve Smallman, Ada Grey published by Little Tiger.
The Proudest Blue, Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali Art by Hatem Aly, published by Anderson Press
Pink is for Boys, Robb Pearlman, Eda Kaban published by RP Kids
Ten Minutes to Bed Little Mermaid Rhiannon Fielding, Chris Chatterton, published by Penguin
Extremely Curious Questions and Answers, Miles Kelly, published Miles Kelly,
Julian is a Mermaid, Jessica Love, published by Walker
ALL ARE WELCOME, Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman, published by Bloomsbury.
2. Watch something different.
If your kids like screen time (whose don’t?!) here are some great TV shows and films that celebrate people as people, and tell some incredible stories too!
Full age appropriate list on page 16 – 20 here
3. Find out some local history.
You don’t have to visit The Rum Story to find out about the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved People in Cumbria (although we thoroughly recommend a visit). Did you know that the UK’s first Black police officer, John Kent was from Carlisle? The last recorded enslaved person in Cumbria, Rasselas Belfield is buried in St Martin’s churchyard in Bowness-on-Windermere, and there’s lots more hidden history around our county! Take some time to find out about your area’s links with other places, whether that be through museums, galleries or exhibitions, or just walking through town and finding out more about street names, buildings, businesses and more. Here are a few local articles, resources and places your kids might find interesting.Tomb of Rasselas Belfield in St Martin’s Churchyard Windermere OMB OF RASSELAS BELFIELD IN ST. MARTIN’S CHURCHYARD, Windermere – 1392853 | Historic England
Article about John Kent
Cumbria and the Slave Trade
4. Make a pen pal.
Why not ask your friends, family or schools if they know anyone living abroad who would like a pen pal? Or even someone living somewhere else in the UK?! It can be a wonderful way for children to learn from each other, especially as they will be learning in a peer to peer environment. Not to mention your kids will also get to practice their writing, learn letter writing and envelope addressing skills too so get out the pens, paper and stamps and get your kids scribbling! Please note we are aware there are online ‘matchmaking’ sites for penpals, but we haven’t used them and don’t know their safeguarding standards – make sure you do your homework before sharing information with people.
5. Talk about race.
One of the biggest problems with ‘race’ is that we don’t talk about it. Familiarise yourself with current issues and discuss them with your children. Celebrate different cultures and backgrounds through food, dance, music, books, movies, clothes, anything – learn about where they’ve come from and how they ended up here. There are some great age appropriate resources on: A Parents’ Guide to Black Lives Matter
A huge thanks to Yoopies for their wonderful resource material and to our Anti Racist Cumbria members for their own personal suggestions too.
