Are We Really That Different?

Have you ever taken your child to the park and just observed his or her interactions with other kids?

I guess I was always the mom who followed her little ones around the park, watching closely to make sure that they were safe at all times and that they weren't misbehaving.

But lately, since the boys are a bit older, sadly, they don't seem to need my help as often as they used to when climbing the rope ladders or sliding down the fireman pole. Nor do they ask me to hold onto them while they swing across the monkey bars.

As a result, I have become a little less hands-on and have had an opportunity to just sit back and watch what they are up to as they run around the park. That is...unless I'm invited to join in on the fun.

What I have recently noticed on the days when I can just observe is that other children, whom we have never met, are asking our boys to play with them. Or our boys are asking other children, whom they have never met, to play with them.

This hasn't always been the case; believe me. When the boys were really little, they were too shy to interact with other children they didn't know.

But right now, they are at the perfect age, where they feel that they have a little more independence when playing at a park. But they are also not so grown up that they feel that they are "too cool for school" and can't talk to other children.

What has been fascinating for me to witness is that there is no delay when children at the park ask other children to play.

They don't wait to see if they think the other kid is cool enough to talk to before approaching him or her. They don't wait to find out where the other kid goes to school. They don't ask what their parents do for a living or where they live. And they sure as heck don't care what the other child looks like.

Private school/Public school? African American/Caucasian? Curly hair/Straight hair? Blue eyes/Brown eyes? Religious/Non-Religious?

IT DOESN'T MATTER. Little kids DON'T see differences. (Click on "video of kids not noticing differences" below. It will make you chuckle and will bring a tear to your eye, all at the same time. I use this in my classroom when teaching a unit on the Holocaust.)

So if most young children don't see differences, when do we, as human beings, start to classify ourselves and others into categories of "we" and "they"?

It's certainly a question to ponder as parents.

So what can I do? What can you do? What can WE do to raise our children to be less critical, more understanding and more accepting of differences?

Friends, if we want to live in a more peaceful world, let's start with ourselves. And let's raise the next generation to "be the change that we want to see in this world" (Mahatma Gandhi).

We've got work to do. Let's do this together.

Video Of Kids Not Noticing Differences

Need ideas on how to work with your own children or students (if you are a teacher) when discussing differences and tolerance? Check out: Facing History and Ourselves.