Resources for Talking with Kids about Race and Racialized Violence

Children’s views on race and racialized violence are influenced by those of their closest caregivers. It is never too early or too late to talk with your children about race and racialized violence. It is important to talk with your children and help them understand their thoughts and feelings about all the recent events. To help get you started we compiled a list of expert resources to guide your conversation and recommended children’s books on the topic. 

From the Spark and Stitch Institute:

• Resources for Talking With Kids About Race, Racism, and Racialized Violence - Center for Racial Justice in Education
• Helping Kids Cope With Tragedy - Spark & Stitch Institute
• 31 Children's Books To Support Conversations About Race, Racism, and Resistance - Embrace Race
• Discussing Traumatic Events With Youth - Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health
• Traumatic Experiences - Sesame Street Workshop in Communities

From University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Complex Trauma: In Urban African American Children, Youth & Families discusses complex trauma and shares tips for providers.
• Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health’s Discussing Traumatic Events with Youth links to abundant articles and how-to guides.
• The Center for Racial Justice in Education’s Resources for Talking With Kids About Race, Racism, and Racialized Violence includes recorded interviews, articles and affinity spaces.
• Extension’s Early Childhood Mental Health Toolkit offers research, training videos, and an online case study focused on our youngest community members.
• The eReview Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma in young children: What we know and what we can do from Extension’s Children, Youth and Family Consortium provides some helpful background and policy suggestions.

Last updated October 19, 2020