Developing adolescent appreciation for diversity: what you need to know?

Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness. 

– Ola Joseph

Understanding and appreciating the opinions, actions, and demands of individuals with various backgrounds are necessary in order to respect diversity. A more tolerant society is facilitated by the capacity to cherish, respect, and recognise people's personalities, backgrounds, and wide variations. Your teenager would be confronted with individuals from many backgrounds as society gets more diverse. Teach your kid the importance of diversity and tolerance so they may successfully navigate our rapidly changing culture.

Discuss prejudices, disparities, and offensive conduct. People from various financial origins, racial backgrounds, worldviews, genders, and sexual orientations make up the rich tapestry of variety that is the globe. It's vital to discuss with your kid how these labels and presumptions affect others since every one of these groupings have experienced harmful stereotypes. You could wish to bring up an inaccurate myth about your family or origin.

This may also be an excellent opportunity to discuss the impact that unkind words or deeds have on others, particularly with regard to youth who are bullied or ostracized simply because they are dissimilar. This is also a good time to talk about how variety enriches our world and how being welcoming of others may teach people more about the wider world. The Invention of Wings from Sue Monk Kidd is a historical fiction novel that discusses enslavement in South Carolina in the early 1800s, according to Tom Hoerr, Head of the St. Louis-based New City School. If your kid is interested, you might want to encourage them to read it. According to Hoerr, reading this book to your teen might be a wonderful method to encourage them to think about these topics because it has examples of both overt and covert forms of racism that still exist in the country today.

Your teen can learn about tolerance by watching documentaries and critical movies. Watching documentaries with characters from other spheres of life is another technique to strengthen your teen's capacity for appreciation for diversity. These movies can be helpful conversation starters on tolerance since they frequently deal with societal issues, disputes, and challenges. You may educate your teen to accept differences by showing them movies like "The Kite Runner," "Refugee Like Me," and "Poverty in America," which offer societal commentary on diversity and tolerance.

You could also want to find out what languages or locations your adolescent is keen to learn more about. This may be a fantastic opportunity to start a conversation about the benefits of studying abroad while in college, as well as the importance of picking up a new language and seeing a new culture.