You're listening to the First Name Basis podcast, episode one, talking to young kids about race.

Welcome to First Name Basis, a community of parents committed to making the transformation,

from good intentions to confident action. Join us each week as we cover critical

topics and answer the questions you've never felt comfortable asking. We'll use the lessons

we learn to teach our children about race, religion, and culture to give you a little bit of insight into how our podcast

is going to be structured. I decided to go with the series structure so that we can

talk about topics that are similar to each other over a number of weeks. We'll have about two to

four episodes in a series and each of the episodes will either be about the same topic or topics that go

well together. The first series that we're

going to start with is talking to your kids about race and slavery. I know it might feel like we're

starting in the deep end, but this is one of the most common questions I get when I am helping

families understand how to make their lives more inclusive and how to teach their children to appreciate

diversity. So we're going to start today with how to talk to your young kids about race.

Oftentimes parents will read articles or listen to a podcast about talking about race and ethnicity

and they come away feeling like okay that was great

but where do I start what do I do? How do I know what to say? So I'm going to give you three

concrete things you can do and say to your young children about race. But before we begin,

I want to lay a little bit of a foundation.

We have to remember that this is a journey. It's a continual conversation. It is not a one-time

deal. So it's totally okay if you feel awkward or uncomfortable. And it is okay if you don't have

the answers. As I said in our intro episode, this is a muscle that you build up

over time. So the first time, you might say the wrong thing. You might say something awkward. You might

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