in particular — look different for different families. Stephen Chan is the father of a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, both full Chinese. While he and his husband believe that their kids are too young to learn about racial biases just yet, they want to lay a strong foundation for when they broach the topic later.
“It’s grounding our kids in a cultural context — and in an understanding that they have those assets, that they have that cultural wealth,” Chan, vice president of the Boston Foundation, told TODAY. “We're talking about how we think about valuing other people — valuing your own cultural grounding — so that inevitably, when you do notice, ‘Hey, you’re different,’ it's grounded in something really positive.
Without fail, Chan is struck by the fact that his daughter never reacts negatively: to her, race is just another factual observation. During these early stages of conversation, it’s been about “noticing difference,” said Chan, “and really reinforcing what’s common, human to human.”