HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE:
Read the whole thing yourself before reading it to your kids. Pray for wisdom and compassion. Be prepared that you and your children may already have untrue or unloving views of others; it takes time to relearn these things, but by the grace of God and with His help, we can!
Read it aloud with your children; you don't have to read the whole thing, but try to end on a hopeful note, not in the middle of a sad or troubling aspect.
Pause whenever your children have questions. If it will be answered by another point in this doc, feel free to skip ahead to answer them, or to paraphrase it. If they're a bit older and can remember their question, feel free to tell them it will be answered as they keep listening.
Plan on reading this- and more importantly, discussing this- somewhat regularly with your kids. More thoughts on discussion are at the bottom of this document.
This document does not cover every facet we can consider in the discussion of racism; it is designed to help parents (predominantly white parents in America) discuss this topic biblically and simply with their young children; it is not exhaustive.
You are welcome to share this with anyone (and on any platform) that you think would benefit from it. Credit is appreciated.
HOW TO TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT RACISM
God made everyone in His own image.
"And God created man in His own image, male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)
"For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will thank You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139: 13-14)
God made everyone. Every single person we ever see was made by God, in His image, to glorify Him. He chose their skin color, the shape of their lips and nose, the way their hair looks, and the shape of their body. We see that He has chosen to make people of many skin colors, all made equally. We see in nature that He is a creative God Who loves beauty. He has made everyone, and He made their bodies well.
We are all equal, and we are diverse.
"And He made from one man every nation of mankind…" (Acts 17:26)
All humans have descended from Adam and Eve; modern science tells us that we are all genetically more similar than different. We also see that in this world there are many different ethnicities and cultures. Just as God created many beautiful, different, diverse flowers, He has made many diverse people. One flower is not inherently better than another; there are some that we are used to and others we are not as familiar with, but flowers are all flowers.
It is only pride that makes people believe their culture, traditions, or way of life is better than someone else's. As believers, we want to be like Jesus and obey God and encourage others to do the same. We don't need everyone to like the same things we do or eat the same foods, because our lives are not about us. Instead, we can enjoy the food, art, and music of people from all over the world!
No one is better or worse than anyone else.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
"There is none righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10)
Some people believe they are better people because they have white skin. Some people believe people with darker skin- black, or brown skin- are kind of bad, dirty, or not smart. Some people think that others are not as important because they have a different skin color. But the Bible tells us this is not true.
The Bible tells us that ALL of us are sinners who need to be saved by Jesus. But our skin color doesn't make us any better or any worse than someone with a different skin color.
God loves everyone, and so should we.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life." (John 3:16)
"God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"There is no partiality with God." (Romans 2:11)
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
The Bible also tells us that God loves ALL people, and like we learned in Genesis, He made ALL people in His image. He doesn't like light people better or dark people better, and since we love God, we should not like one person better than another because of their skin color either. Everyone is equal, and everyone matters to God, so they matter to us.
God tells us how to treat others.
“Consider one another as more important than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)
“Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)
“Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” (Luke 6:31)
The Bible tells us many, many ways we can love and obey God in the way we treat other people. Because all people are made in the image of God, we should treat all people with dignity and respect. This means we treat all people like they matter, because they do!
We are kind to everyone, even if they aren’t kind to us. If we see or hear someone being unkind to another person, we look for a way to help- even just saying, “Stop!” or “That isn’t kind” can help, and getting a safe adult to help with the problem is a good idea as well.
We look for ways to serve and bless others.
If we hear someone say something that isn’t true, like, “those people are so lazy” about a group of people who are a different ethnicity, we can ask a question and remind them what the Bible says. You could ask, "Why do you think that?” and say, “Because we know the Bible says God made all people in His image to glorify Him.”
We make friends with people of all colors. They may dress in different clothes, speak a different language, eat a different lunch, or do all those things just like you. No matter what is the same and what is different, we can love others like God does by being loving and generous with everyone, and looking for ways to include others.
There are sad, terrible things in this world.
"Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much." (James 5:16)
Because this world has been broken by sin, and because all people are sinners who can’t stop sinning unless God has saved them and is helping them, there are a lot of bad things in the world. Here in America, there are bad things being said and done to black people, and that is really sad. We take these serious things seriously, because we love others, and we look for ways to help.
One thing we can do to help is talking to each other about this problem, and asking God to make us more like Him in our love for others. We can also write letters to leaders in our government asking them to make changes. We can talk to our friends about what we are learning, and what God says about how all people matter. We can read books and learn about the sad, wrong things in the past, and how people worked together to make changes.
The most important thing we can do is PRAY. It shouldn’t be the only thing we do, but it IS the most powerful! God is the One Who changes hearts, not us, and so when we see or hear someone being unkind to people of another ethnicity, we try to help, and we pray that God will change their heart. When sad, terrible things happen in our country, we can cry and feel sadness, and we also pray that God will comfort us and all of the people who are suffering. We can pray for justice, peace, and that people will hear and understand the Gospel.
We will do what is right, even when it is hard or sad.
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Do you know the true story in the Bible about the three men who loved God so much that obeyed Him no matter what? The King told them to stop worshipping God and worship him instead, but they knew that was wrong. They knew they had to obey God, and they wanted to obey Him, because they loved Him! Even when the King threw the men into the fire to punish them, they trusted God. God chose to save them from the fire!
Like those men, and many other men and women, we trust God even when things are hard, sad, and scary. Because we love Him, we obey Him. We will love others the way God has told us to, even if some people think we're being foolish, because we love God.
We have HOPE!
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound
in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
Because it is God Who changes hearts, convicts people of sin, and saves people, there is hope! He can change the hearts of even the most unloving, cruel people. We believe in Him and love Him because He has changed OUR hearts
The Bible tells us that one day, when all believers are in Heaven together with God, there will be people of every color and language worshipping God TOGETHER! (Revelation 7:9+10) It will be beautiful and wonderful. Just like on earth, we will all be equal, but better than on earth, there will be no fear or dislike towards each other, because we will be free from sin.
For now, here on earth, we can take joy in the fact that the Bible says all who believe in Jesus are part of a big family. All throughout history, and all over the world today, there are believers of all colors- and they are our brothers and sisters in Christ! We have brothers and sisters on every continent of the world right now! They may look different than we do, and they certainly live in different areas, different houses, and with different customs, but we have in common the one most important thing: we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus. More important than anything about us or our lives on the earth, is our identity as believers in Christ. What a wonderful thing to have in common!
DISCUSSING RACISM + JUSTICE WITH YOUR CHILDREN
Look for opportunities to reinforce the truth of the Bible in our views of others. For example, when you see/read/hear something that has untrue views of another ethnicity, calmly ask your kids, "Wait, what does the Bible say about this?" and prompt them as needed, based on their age/understanding, such as, "Did God make one person's skin color better than another's, or are we all made well in His image?"
After calmly helping your child recall what is true, please clearly condemn what is not true. This can look like, "What this book said was NOT true, that is NOT what the Bible teaches us. It is untrue and unloving."
Consider using the words "untrue", "unloving", and "unhelpful" instead of "racist." Our kids may have friends and family members with inadvertently racist views, and labeling that person a racist could do harm without gently helping them consider how that view is unbiblical. If we practice asking questions and using these terms, we can more lovingly stand up for what is right. Biblical views of others will be true, loving, and helpful to that person for the need of the moment.
Have practice dialogues! You can pretend to be someone voicing unbiblical views and stereotypes about people of color, and your children can practice kindly and boldly responding. Feel free to break character to help them find a clearer way to say what they mean.
Let them ask questions and express what they think and feel about these things. They may say or ask things that are uncomfortable; be their safe and trustworthy person to have calm, honest conversations about this topic. Pray together a lot.
Some details or ideas are complicated or horrifying, and not best for very young children, or for kids just beginning to learn about this topic. Considering leaving the details of exactly HOW George Floyd was murdered for when they are more mature; for now, if you choose to tell them, simply saying "a police officer made a horrible, sinful choice to hurt a man until he died. This is so sad, and disobeyed God," can suffice.
In another document I'll offer ideas for parents wanting to embrace the diversity of color and culture in all the humans God has made. For now, I simply encourage you to intentionally include positive representations of black men, women, and children in your home. Watching "Doc McStuffins" and "The Reading Rainbow" are examples of an easy way to do this.
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