Today, more than ever, our children are interacting with all kinds of people; people of different ethnicity, disabilities, religions, and cultures. Classrooms across the country are increasingly more diverse making it important for parents to be a role model for tolerance.
What is Tolerance?
Tolerance refers to having an openness and respect for the differences that exist among people. Historically, tolerance referred to ethnic and religious differences, however, times have changed and now given the idea of tolerance a much broader definition. Tolerance is now applied to such differences as gender, people with physical and intellectual disabilities, stereotypes, etc. Tolerance is about respecting and learning from others and valuing your differences, bridging cultural gaps, rejecting stereotypes, and other things that, in many ways, are the opposite of prejudice.
Having tolerance, however, does not mean that behaviors such as bullying, teasing, and other negative behaviors are acceptable. Tolerance is about accepting people for who they are, not necessarily the bad behaviors that they exhibit. In order to be tolerant, you must treat all people in your life the way that you would like to be treated.
Why is it Important for Children to be Taught Tolerance?
There are several important reasons why children need an education in tolerance, with one of the most important reasons being because of the rise of globalization. With the explosion of technology in the past decade, the advances have made it capable for people to interact with people all over the world. It large companies today, it is commonplace for employees to be actively involved in projects with co-workers that are based in other areas of the world!
How Parents Can Promote Tolerance
The three areas that children learn tolerance or intolerance, which are the home, school, and the media, in that order. With home being the leading influence, parents need to be aware of and sensitive of their own stereotypes, prejudices and intolerance.
One important way to combate intolerance is by giving your child the tools they need in order to develop healthy self esteem. Kids with a healthy self esteem have confidence and they do not need to belittle another person in order to feel that they are confident. BoostKids is an excellent resource for building self esteem in children by teaching them people skills and developing their character.
Other important ways to teach your children tolerance are:
Notice your own attitudes. Parents need to be a role model by showing respect of other cultures, ethnicities, people with disabilities, etc.
Always remember your kids are listening. Never let your children hear you talking down on another person, a stereotype, a group of people, etc.
Talk with your children about unfair stereotypes. Discuss those children see in the media or at school.
Choose carefully the books, toys, music, and videos you give to your child to avoid the media from shaping your child’s attitude.
Answer your child’s questions honestly and respectfully.
Teach that tolerance does not mean accepting bad behavior. Teach kids to treat everyone as well as how they would like others to treat them.
Study other holidays and religious celebrations with your children.
Help your kids to have a healthy self esteem. Children who feel bad about themselves are more likely to treat others badly. Children that feel valued have a healthy self esteem and have respect for themselves and will be more likely to treat others with respect.
By setting a positive example, parents provide a valuable base for raising children that are tolerant and respectful of people’s differences.
BoostKids is a program that can help increase a child’s confidence by teaching social skills to children and building their character. BoostKids has been and is currently being taught in schools, non-profit organizations, and after-school programs. The program is now available as an at-home training program for children and their parents. The key training tool of the BoostKids program is an interactive CD-ROM that shows kids the right-way and the wrong-way to handle social situations. They learn from real kid actors in real-life scenerios!