Teaching Your Child to Respect Other Cultures

17th February 2022 Family

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The world is full of diversity, which is one of the things that makes it so special. No two people are the same, and the sooner children can understand this, the easier it will be for them to understand equality and celebrate diversity. As a parent, you may be wondering what you can do to help teach your child to respect other cultures, so I have teamed up with one of the top boarding schools in the UK to share some advice.

Talk About Concepts of Respect & Diversity

From a young age, you should try and have conversations with your child about what it means to respect other people, regardless of who they are or what makes them different. Help them appreciate that what your family and friends believe or the way you dress, or even the language you speak, isn’t the only way. There are people all of the world who have different coloured skin, different cultural traditions, different religious beliefs etc, but they should be treated with respect too.  

Look at a World Map/Globe

Show your child how big the world is by pointing at your home country on a map. Isn’t it tiny compared to the rest of the planet? Perhaps you could work on a project together in which each of you choose a random country on the map/globe and do some research into the people who live there. What language do they speak? What foods do they traditionally eat? What types of music do they listen to? The more your child understands about the world, the easier it will be for them to respect people. 

Explore Some Religious Holidays

Another way to teach your child about diversity is to explore some different religious and cultural events. There are so many, so it might help if you invest in a calendar so you can remember them. Here are some examples:

• Diwali
• Thanksgiving
• Eid
• Hannukah
• Chinese New Year
• Christmas
• Day of the Dead
• Easter

Do some research and find out what people do to celebrate these events, and maybe even have your own celebrations at home. 

Prejudice often stems from ignorance, so if your child learns about other cultures from a young age, they are far more likely to respect others.