Diversity in My Sons Preschool

Diversity is good. To much of anything is not healthy or helpful in mental growth. A nice mix is always good. But then again you also have an opportunity to educate. Instead of focusing on what the skin color of the kids are I'd be more worried about how the kids interact with each other and how the teachers react children's behaviors and how they teach them.

Is it a good school?

Are the ratings good? Do you like the teachers?

Is it a safe place. These are the most important things to me about any schools our daughter attended.

There where some schools that were may more diverse than others. In the long run.. our daughter did not notice.. She just loved her friends and teachers.

Hi J. -

If he is your bio son, the concern should be lessened slightly, since he'll have diversity at home. However, if he doesn't have someone who "looks like him" at home, when he does encounter *and emotionally process* racism, ir will be more of an issue. It is something that is harder to see - and harder to understand- if you haven't experienced it and it's not always as blatant as some might think.

In other words, I think kids only "don't notice" if they don't have to. For example, I appear to be white (I'm not, but that's a different matter) and I didn't know my best friend was black (and I wasn't) until 4th grade. But you can be darn sure *she* knew.

However, I'll echo your other commenters in that at age 3-4, he'll likely only notice if others at the school make a thing of it. At that age the world is small. So you probably have some time before this becomes "a thing".

Best to you,
e

Trust me, in preschool, it matters more to you than it does to your son.
I assume this is a state funded school? If yes, then you will probably have fewer options. If you can and/or are willing to pay for preschool you can choose whatever you want.
But like I said, your son won't notice a thing unless you point it out to him. I still remember my "lovely" stepfather telling me we were moving at the end of my kindergarten year because the neighborhood was full of n***ers. I had no idea what he was talking about. Sadly, not long after that I learned what he meant (and I hated him, and that word.) He was talking about my friends :(

My kindergartner son is white and is in a very diverse school. He loves it, but doesn't even notice skin color differences. He mostly notices hair color differences, he thinks all people with black hair speak Spanish and he is always trying to figure out how to speak it himself! If it's a good school, keep him there :)

I wouldn't switch him if he's happy. I think it's great that you want to expose him to racial diversity. I am Latina and my husband is Caucasian so our kids are also mixed. My son attends a Charter school that is pretty diverse.

Hi J.,

I hear you and this would bother me too. As a side note, your son does notice color. My DD is mixed too and she is not oblivious to the fact that she is different (even at a diverse daycare). Since 2, she's identified herself as "brown" and thinks she looks more similar to African Americans than white people. I think the conversation you have with your son is more important than what he sees. Google Po Bronson's article "Even Babies Discriminate." His whole book, Nurtureshock, is worth reading. Good luck to you!

This is really tough. I do think diversity is important and it is sometimes hard to find. I also agree that kids notice more than we think they do and it's great your family is so diverse to expose your son to so many people and cultures. I think I would probably go with it if it is similar to what his elementary school will look like. I know that seems a long way off, but I'd probably want to keep him in a similar setting.