How To Teach Your Kids About Tolerance

In our societies today we simply cannot deny that we are surrounded by differences in ethnicity, religion, culture, gender, disabilities and other differences.

Some people love to be surrounded by a multicultural society while others do not feel at ease. This mostly depends on our own exposure and attitudes towards our interaction with different people.

Why encourage tolerance in our kids? To start with, we want out kids to feel relaxed and open to learning from different cultures. They bring new ideas, experiences and energy to our lives. Our kids can potentially learn bundles from other cultures. If willing, tolerance opens doors in business, education, travel, leisure, lifestyle, art plus other areas of life.

To help our kids have a successful future, they need to be able to work with others. They need to not be afraid, to step outside their comfort zone and to understand, learn, respect and appreciate others.

Tolerance is not about accepting bad behaviour, but accepting “people” for who they are and treating those how “you” wish to be treated. Remind your kids of this consistently.

Being tolerant of differences doesn’t mean sacrificing your own heritage or beliefs. We can be proud and stand by those beliefs 100% while continuing to celebrate the differences of others.

The tolerance level that parents possess naturally teaches their kids the same message. Children closely watch and imitate us, even before they can speak. Kids will mirror the values and attitudes of those they love and look up to.

Parents who model and display tolerance in their every day actions and words teach their kids to appreciate differences in others too. So we teach by example and provide them with opportunities to play and work with others.