Helping Children Grow Up in Diversity through Modeling and Story Telling

            People have responsibility to help children grow up in diversity, respecting others, and proud of themselves. One thing that caregivers and teachers for young learners can do is by being a role model who respect others and proud of themselves. Adults cannot make children do something that they are not doing. I remember a short video clip that I watched in Youtube, Children See, Children Do. The video shows that children will be just exactly as persons they see most. Children imitate everything. Action is more powerful than word. Therefore, if we want to make children respect other, we have to do it first. We have to show to children that we respect each other and not only say it. We also need to show to children that we respect them too. Respect seems to be a little bit complicated and vague word for children. We cannot just say to children, “You have to respect each other”, or something like “You have to respect your friend.” I don’t think children will understand that concept. Therefore, we need to show them the act of respecting other. It can be start from very simple thing such as listening to them when they are talking and giving them the chance to speak and express their thought.

            On the other way, we also can try to explain to them the concept of respect through stories. Children love stories and it is easier to explain something through stories. For example, if we want to tell children that everyone is unique and we need to appreciate each other uniqueness as the part of respecting other, we can read to children the story about it. I found one story titled Marshmallow First’s Day of School written by Monika Harrison which was uploaded in Youtube. Through story, children can process the abstract concept easier and it is also more memorable.

            If we constantly do those two things above, being the role model and explaining the concept of diversity through simple way, children will grow up respecting others and proud of themselves in this diverse world.