How a Penny Taught My Daughter About Diversity

All this month, because it is black history month, I have been thinking about how might be the best way to talk to my children about race.  My half-brother is bi-racial, and it’s important to me that my children be aware that God made all of us the same inside no matter how we look on the outside.  I’ve constantly been at work with this whenever we see somebody who is in a wheelchair or who has a visible deformity.

For instance, last week at the post office, we saw a man who had a severe limp.

“Why does that man walk funny?”  Rapunzel asked me, a little too loud for comfort.

I’m not sure if the man heard her, but if he did, I hope he heard my response as well.  I decided to tell her that sometimes people are born that way.  Sometimes, something happens to people–either they get sick or they are in an accident–that changes the way they look, move, or talk.  And that whatever the case, God made us all special and He loves us all the same.

The opportunity came to me on Monday to speak of race, when Rapunzel came home from

school having learned about the penny.  The worksheet she had asked who the president was on the front of the penny.

“Do you know who President Lincoln is?”  I asked (knowing she didn’t know, of course).

“No.”

From there, I gave a brief synopsis of slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation, emphasizing

the fact that our ancestors enslaved other people just because they looked different.

“Do you think God loves us any different because our skin is a different color?”  I asked.

“No,” Rapunzel replied.

“Did you know that Mommy’s brother has different colored skin?”

Rapunzel gasped.  “Really?”

“Yes,” I replied, “And actually, today is his birthday!  He is twenty-three.”

I proceeded to show her a picture.  “Isn’t he handsome?”  I asked.

“Yes, he is very handsome,” she replied, “Can I make him a birthday card?”

So I spent much time and effort looking for fun, cute printables on black history month just so I could teach my daughter about diversity, when really…all I needed was a penny.