Professor Sylvia Perry discusses the best age to talk with children about race

Sylvia Perry, of the Department of Psychology, studies the formation of racial attitudes and practices designed to reduce prejudice. Through her work, she aims to help foster classroom environments, and a society-at-large, where everyone can achieve and thrive.

As part of her research, Perry has developed a learning task for white parent-child pairs that includes shared viewing of cartoon vignettes, followed by prompts that facilitate a color-conscious dialogue about race.

“If your child can have a conversation with you, they are old enough to start having conversations about race. As early as preschool, children start showing racial group favoritism,” said Perry.

Perry explained that parents (and peers) are a major source of children’s socialization processes. “The signals that parents send to their children every day will help them understand what they should and should not value, who they should and should not value, and how to make sense of their social world,” said Perry.

Read more about Perry’s research and resources for parents in Northwestern Now.