Raising awareness in so many ways

Awareness… I’ve written about it a lot lately. It’s something that I’m passionate about. But I realize there are so many levels of awareness that is important for us and our families. Why not talk more about it?

This came to mind when a few of my friends shared an article from the St. Louis Beacon. It talks about ways you can help raise your children to be more racially aware. This has always been important to me but I realize I could do more to help my kids surround themselves in more diversity. And since I live in a small midwestern city, I need to really be thoughtful. Check out what the article says. It’s called Five tips for raising racially aware children.

The tips aren’t much different from what you can do to raise special needs aware children. I take the time to bring my kids together with differently abled kids and adults. We attend meetings and events that put them around all kinds of needs and abilities. It is not unusual to meet someone with crutches or a wheelchair. That doesn’t mean my kids are perfect. But I think there’s less stigma placed on physical disabilities in their world. I feel blessed for that.

But why not go out of my way to do the same for difference racial and ethnic backgrounds? My son’s school has an international day this Friday. I want to make sure we participate. I should seek out different events and conversations to help my kids better understand life with people who live with different family backgrounds. I am glad he goes to a school with diversity including socioeconomic and race. But I really do need to make sure he opens his eyes to who and what he’s learning.

I honestly believe having a household where we are more aware of differences makes us a better families and better people. Hopefully we can use this to our advantage and help our kids grow up to be more caring and aware.