Posts tagged: Diversity

Exploring Diversity with The Only Way to Make Bread

Bread is a diet staple. It comes in many forms, from rye loaves and buttermilk biscuits to focaccia and tortillas.…

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Practicing Humility

Psychologists suggest that true humility is not about making oneself smaller to please others, but being able to share…

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Gender Identity & The Dress in the Window

“Paint my fingers and toes, too, mommy!” pleaded my four year old son. “I want to be sparkly like the girls!”…

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Exploring ‘Freedom’ with Kids on Juneteenth

Every June 19th, the U.S. celebrates Juneteenth. It’s a national holiday commemorating the ending of slavery as a…

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Passover Explorations

Looking through photos, I found several of my family celebrating Passover with friends who are Jewish. They would…

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Living Black History Projects

It’s Black History Month once again in the U.S., when teachers and group leaders plan lessons celebrating African…

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Guided Meditation: Immigration

A few years ago, our family collected household items to help Afghan refugees relocating to our hometown. A local…

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Dreaming about Racial Equity with Kids

During the Black Lives Matter protests of 2021, my home city (Richmond, VA) struggled with the legacy of several…

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Hanukkah Story Activities

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is an eight day celebration that recalls how a small band of ancient Jews…

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El Día de Los Muertos

Hobgoblins, witches, and ghosts are staples of Halloween, celebrated with glee by children throughout North America.…

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Seeing Differences through Eyes that Speak to the Stars

Children are often curious about differences. They wonder why someone has red hair instead of brown like them, or…

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Exploring Diversity & Community with Luli and the Language of Tea

Children from several nations gather in a playroom while their parents learn English as a Second Language next door.…

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Affirming Gender Diversity

When my children were young, we dressed them in a rainbow of hues. Some people found this frustrating because they…

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Exploring Elemental with Kids

A few days ago, one of my children wanted breakfast for dinner, while another preferred Indian. The first argued that…

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Celebrating Juneteenth with Young Children

The United States’ newest federal holiday, Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of African Americans from slavery.…

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Celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month

Just a few weeks after cherry blossoms peak in the U.S. capital, Americans begin a month-long celebration of Asian…

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Using Books as Spiritual Mirrors & Windows

As a preschooler, my daughter loved Don and Audrey Wood’s The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big…

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Babies & Racial Bias

My nine month old daughter cowered in my arms. She clearly didn’t want to interact with the person who had just…

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Helping Children Appreciate Diversity

Cleaning out my daughter’s closet, I found a shadow box she constructed in 1st grade. She and a friend set out to…

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Using Room Decorations to Support Spiritual Learning

The walls of my son’s pre-K classroom were covered with posters and children’s artwork. It was like walking into a…

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Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Reading books about Martin Luther King, Jr. was more than an annual event when my children were young. We had several,…

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Celebrating Native American Heritage

When I was growing up, November was a month filled with images of ‘pilgrims’ and ‘Indians’ sharing a…

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Encouraging Authenticity

Authenticity is trending as a value. Parents and children want to speak their truth and advocate for what they believe…

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Diwali Spirituality

As fall crops are harvested and days grow shorter, many cultures and religions acknowledge the season with celebrations…

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Exploring Community Justice with Unfadeable

In Unfadeable, Bella Fades is a fierce tween girl who loves her community and wants to see it thrive. Her strong belief…

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Reading Small Town Pride With Kids

Small Town Pride stars a tween working to understand himself, change his community and gain autonomy over his own…

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Talking about Ukraine with I Hate Borsch

Earlier this month, UNESCO added borsch, the national soup of Ukraine, to its list of endangered cultural heritage…

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Identity Discussions with Alice Austen Lived Here

Sam and TJ have learned a lot about ‘Dead Straight Cisgender White Men’ in history. So when they have to research a…

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Gay Pride Spirituality

It’s Gay Pride Month, and families of all sorts are celebrating diversity. Colorful rainbow flags attract…

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Being Gender Inclusive

I started transgressing gender norms with my children when they were babies. I dressed them in colors and styles…

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Exploring Ellen Outside the Lines

In their latest book, author A.J. Sass creates a neurodivergent main character (Ellen) who is negotiating changes in…

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Spiritual Reflection with Turning Red

Pixar’s newest release is a coming-of-age story about a Chinese Canadian girl accepting both her changing body and…

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Celebrating Black History Year-Round

With the calendar shift from February to March, we’ve gone from remembering Black history to lifting up women and…

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Books Celebrating Black Identity

Children’s spiritual well-being depends, in part, on strong self-esteem. They need to see themselves as individuals…

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Spirituality & Black History

February is Black History Month, a time when parents, teachers, and the media share stories of African American civil…

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Reading Fauja Singh Keeps Going

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the 3rd Monday in January reminds us that society needs strong leaders:…

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Play & Spirituality

Play is a central part of children’s lives and their spiritual journeys. When they use their bodies to explore the…

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Environmental Justice for Preschoolers

As global leaders gather in Glasgow to discuss climate change, one message is clear: environmental justice isn’t just…

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Reading The Proudest Blue

Wearing hijab is a spiritual statement for Muslim girls and women. It is a sign of faith and a practice of…

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Teaching Tough Topics

Ruth Wills doesn’t believe in shying away from tough topics with children. A few years ago, she developed a method…

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Chapter Books about Refugees & Asylum Seekers

Older children often wonder about the reasons refugees and asylum seekers have left their homelands. They are able to…

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Picture Books about Refugees

With stories about refugees and immigrants frequently in the news, children are certain to wonder about why they’ve…

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Gender and Sexual Diversity Inclusion

My daughter returned from her third grade ‘Meet the Teacher’ with news she’d heard through friends: a boy in her…

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Contextual Engagement

Engaging children in spiritual work is a contextual experience. Yet much of our understanding about children’s…

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Identity Portraits

Valuing who we are and respecting others’ identities are crucial to spiritual wellbeing. Every child wants to be seen…

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Critical Race Theory

When the University of North Carolina declined to tenure Nikole Hannah-Jones after recruiting her for a chair in…

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Helping Families Navigate Multiple Spiritual Traditions

Many children are growing up in families that have ties to multiple spiritual traditions. In a household where one…

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Race & Gender Bias in Children’s Media

Children consume a lot of media. They watch videos, play animated games, and have favorite streaming television shows.…

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Class Bias in Religious Resources

Pandemic business closures, safer-at-home orders, and the move to virtual schooling have hit all families hard, but…

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Helping Children Identify as Spiritual People

When parents name a child, they do so with high hopes that the name will somehow influence who that child becomes. If…

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