Teaching Your Kids To Respect Other Cultures

[Collaborate Post]

If you want your child to respect and celebrate diversity it’s important that you help them learn about different cultures. The more they understand about traditions, religious beliefs and other customs, the easier it will be to appreciate that all people are different. Our 5 year old son has asked a lot about who does and doesn't celebrate Christmas recently and I've felt it's important to know that not everyone does. 

Here are some useful tips from a Catholic Girls’ School on how to help your youngsters accept and respect other cultures.

As well as your own religious holidays (if you have them), you could celebrate other traditions such as Diwali, Hanukkah or Eid. Buy or create a calendar in which you make a note of all of the upcoming special occasions and learn about the ways in which they are usually celebrated. You can then celebrate in your own home, on a smaller scale, with traditional foods and decorations. Food is generally a great way to teach your kids about other cultures. This is something we do with our Brownies and they love to try different foods. You can cook together, which will help your child with other aspects of their learning like measuring out ingredients, for instance. 


Reading books or watching films is another ideal way to help your child learn about other cultures because they allow us to be anywhere in the world without actually moving. In reading or watching, we are able to experience different lifestyles. Let your child pick out some books at the library and encourage them to read as much as possible. We are very lucky that our local library and my sons school library is well equiped with books about different cultures and celebrations and they are very popular with all the children.


The most important thing you can do for your kids if you want them to be accepting of other cultures and that people have different beliefs is to lead by example and be a good role model. You should always embrace diversity and be open-minded if you want to raise culturally sensitive and tolerant young people. When your child asks you questions about another culture, use it as an opportunity to help them learn and respect people’s differences.

Mummy Snowy Owl
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