Day 2- "As I Respect Myself I learn to Respect Others."
According to Davis and Nixon, 2010- 16% of children reported being bullied because of their race.
We all want and deserve respect for who we are. Just because someone thinks, believes or looks DIFFERENT from you does not mean that they are less deserving of respect. My belief is that as a human being you are entitled to be who you are as long as you are not causing harm to yourself and/or others. Today, I want to talk about teaching our children about racism and how it could be considered bullying. According to an article on www.wales.gov.uk/educationalskills racism is behavior or language that makes a pupil feel unwelcome or marginalized because of their color, ethnicity, culture, religion or national origin. (Northern Ireland schools). They also report racism as something someone does or says that offends someone else in connection with their color, background, culture or religion. However, it becomes BULLYING when a person is: teased or called names because of their culture or the color of their skin, their religion, the country they come from, their language and the way they talk, the food they eat, the clothes they wear or their background; when they are stereotyped by their color or religion; rejected or excluded from a group because of their color or religion; made fun of or their family is made fun of; or they are treated unfairly because of their way of life (Preventing and Addressing Racism in Schools, Ealing Education Authority (2003).
With the new school year steadily approaching our children will be faced with people from different cultures and religions, especially here in the Pittsburgh area. As I look around my surroundings I see many different shades and cultures. We have to learn to welcome the differences of others instead of fighting against them. As parents we can help build a nation without bullying and increase our respect for one another simply by encouraging our own children to respect the differences of others as surely we expect them to respect our own. No one person, religion, country or community is perfect, but we all can co-exist if we simply learn to respect the beliefs of others.
Start today by walking around with this thought constantly on your mind throughout the day. "As I RESPECT myself, I learn to RESPECT others."
** photo from childdevelopmentinfo.com
