Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I spend lots of time at my kids schools and what really surprises me is how little interaction there is between kids of different races. Of course in todays politically correct world few of the kids or their parents would admit that they don't have friends of a different race but the true reality is different. The kids divide up by race and country of origin and have very little to do with people that don't look like them. (With RARE exceptions of course and I expect many parents will respond to my post stating their kids have friends with kids of all races and cultures!)
Do you strongly encourage your kids to make friends with people of a different race? Do you think that is the role of a parent in today's world? Your thoughts.
We live in a really diverse neighborhood being from NJ and all so it isn't hard to have friends of another race. Would I go out of the way to make it happen? Probably not. They can pick their own friends. Over the years, they've had friends all religions, races. As long as the friend is nice, I don't care. Again though, in our area, it is so mixed that it doesn't take much effort.o
I hope that people don't take this wrong but I do have one observation about racial groups, even in a diverse community like ours. I've noticed that some groups really tend to keep to themselves. We have quite a few Indian families who tend to socialize within their communities. I found a bit of resistance early on in setting up play dates when kids w ere much younger. I had long talk with one Indian lady who explained that they try to keep their culture pure or something like that. I was a bit taken back by the whole conversation but guess that is how it is with some of the families.
In the next year, we may be making a move to a less diverse area of the country. It will be quite interesting for us.
I spend lots of time at my kids schools and what really surprises me is how little interaction there is between kids of different races. Of course in todays politically correct world few of the kids or their parents would admit that they don't have friends of a different race but the true reality is different. The kids divide up by race and country of origin and have very little to do with people that don't look like them. (With RARE exceptions of course and I expect many parents will respond to my post stating their kids have friends with kids of all races and cultures!)
I'm wondering where you live? My experience has been the opposite. My kids grew up with a jumble of races and cultures and their friends reflected it. And that was the norm.
No. Childhood is the only truly honest time in a person's life. Kids like each other because they like each other, and don't because they don't. Race is not a a factor, why make it one? The only reason I can see for encouraging it would be if there were some reason the child didn't want friends of a different race. Kids are not born prejudice, they learn it, so if I had a child who had some kind of negative reaction to people of a different race, I would probably begin looking at my own attitudes and beliefs and what might have been conveyed to my kid.
10 year old daughter reading over my shoulder :"Not really- you are just friends with everyone".
We are a caucasian couple with one bio son, three asian daughters and friends and neighbors of every race imaginable. No effort needed at all. Wouldn't have it any other way. In fact we moved from Ga to our home in N.C. because we were looking for more diversity in a neighborhood.
No. Childhood is the only truly honest time in a person's life. Kids like each other because they like each other, and don't because they don't. Race is not a a factor, why make it one? The only reason I can see for encouraging it would be if there were some reason the child didn't want friends of a different race. Kids are not born prejudice, they learn it, so if I had a child who had some kind of negative reaction to people of a different race, I would probably begin looking at my own attitudes and beliefs and what might have been conveyed to my kid.
Why I find it all nice and good that YOUR KIDS are open to friendships of all races in in YOUR kids schools that race is not an issue and everyone of all races is friends with everyone studies have shown this is not the case in MOST CASES. So my question still stands.
FYI: I am an ethnic minorty who lives in an extremely diverse in MD, but grew up in a white town so I look at things differently.
We never looked for homes based on diversity, to be honest. We searched for the best school systems in proximity to the job. In most cases, that meant we ended up in relatively homogenous areas. When our kids were entering high school we moved to GA, also a job related transfer. The schools are definitely more diverse, and friendships formed based on common interests.
We didn't encourage, nor discourage friendships with different races. It just happened naturally when the opportunity presented itself.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
