Marta Schmidt Mendez Ma

Beautiful Colors Marta Schmidt Mendez Ma

We all want to raise children who are kind, empathic and accepting of others. We live in a very diverse world, which is a wonderful thing, but also can present challenges. Teaching children early to celebrate and value differences and diversity is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. Helping children value diversity means helping them value that people have different traditions, speak different languages, have different physical abilities and have different color skin. When children are about three years of age they begin to see the differences in people's physical abilities. At around the age of two children begin to notice racial and gender differences. By about 2 1/2 years of age children learn the labels for boy and girl and the names of colors. They then begin to apply the names of these colors to skin color. In Beautiful Colors children learn about different colors through vibrant pictures and rhyming verses. The pictures include children and people of different ethnicities and abilities. Reading this book with your child will be a fun and educational experience in more ways than one. Children are born with a sense of fairness and justice. It is our job as parents, caregivers and educators to continue to foster that sense of justice and use our time with children as teachable moments and life lessons.