You are great, as you are.

Parent Activity Plan - You are great, as you are! Part 1

Reading the story

Explain to your child that you are now going to read the story 'You are great, as you are!' Tell your child that in the story Dog is treated very badly by Weasels family. They say things to him that are nasty and hurtful, and worst of all the things they say are not even true!

Read the story yourself See a video of the story being read

The key messages from the story are as follows:

1. That stereotypes can be unhelpful and damaging
2. That people should be judged on who they are, not a stereotype of them
3. That racism, prejudice and intolerance are wrong
4. That everyone deserves to feel happy, healthy, and content, no matter who they are, where they come from and what they look like
5. To promote the idea that children should always tell an adult that they know they can trust, if they are worried or scared

Have a chat with your child about how they felt about what happens in this story. Discuss any concerns they talk about. Ask them if it has ever happened to them.

Now, see if your child has understood the key messages of the story, by answering the questions on the powerpoint quiz.

Take the 'You are great, as you are!' Quiz

Points to cover with your child:

• The Weasel family were absolutely horrible to Dog, they said unkind and untrue things about him.
• However, not every Weasel is the same, this is the same for people. Some people are racist, but the majority are not.
• Please explain to your child that this Weasel family are not representative of all the Weasels that exist. It is the same for people.
• Just because one type of person (White, Black or Asian) is horrible does not mean that all people of that type will be the same.
• Essentially, just because one Weasel family is bad does not mean every Weasel family is bad; is the exact same thing for humans.
• Please explain this to your child as this is important information for them to know before you begin this activity with them.

What makes us alike?

Explain to your child:

Lots of different people from different backgrounds all now live together, our schools and local communities are a good example.

Can they think of some things that we have in common, that we ALL do or like, no matter what kind of person we are?

Work with your child to come up with some ideas to the above question.

Some examples could be:

• Eat the same kinds of food
• Play the same sports
• Live in the same street
• Like the same music/TV shows
• Make friends with a person no matter what they look like or where they are from

Add in any examples that you can think of as well.

Explain to your child:

Whilst we might look a bit different from each other, we are all made up of the same stuff!

Explain to them, when they think about any differences between people, they should think about it like this:

• Imagine every person is like an enormous Ice Cream Sundae!
• we all have ice cream, chocolate sauce, brownie pieces and white chocolate
• but some of us have sprinkles on top, some have nuts, and some have marshmallows
• No matter what the colour of our skin is, we are virtually the same underneath
• So, we are all essentially the same, but with a tiny bit of difference on top!

Explain to your child:

Assuming things about anybody, just because of their ‘race’ can cause people to be intolerant (not understanding) and prejudiced (have a ‘bad’ or ‘negative’ view), and lead to something called racism (being horrible about a person or group of people because of their race).

As we have seen from our Ice Cream Sundae example, there is not much that makes us different, and there is an awful lot more that makes us similar, if not the same.

Now ask your child to draw a picture of them and their friends enjoying an ice-cream sundae!

Parent Activity Plan - You are great, as you are! Part 2

We now know that stereotypes are not a good way to think about a person. We have learnt that a person should be treated as an individual and judged on who they are, not on a stereotype of who they might be.

But, how did Dog feel about being treated in the way he was by Weasel’s family? We are going to look at that a bit more now.

Ask your child to consider this question:

• Why are some words, when said to someone else, hurtful?

Let them think about this for a little while...

Some expected answers might be:

• Because they make us feel sad
• Because they are unfair
• Because what is being said is not right/untrue/based on a stereotype

Ask your child:

If YOU were treated the way that Dog was, how do you think it would feel? Some expected answers might be:

• Sad
• Upset
• Angry
• Confused
• That it was unfair, to be judged on a stereotype, and not on the person you are

So, we can now see what we should not say to a person.

So, how should we treat someone?

Ask them to think about this and discuss it with them.

Some suggested answers would be:

• With kindness
• With compassion
• As an equal, as we are all equal to each other

Explain that if a person is treated in an unfair, unkind, or nasty way that it is upsetting for them. And, remind them, that if they see anyone being treated this way, they should speak to you, a teacher or a trusted adult straight away to help them put a stop to this unacceptable behaviour.

Also, if THEY are treated in this way, then they should tell you, a trusted adult, or a teacher, straight away so they can help put a stop to it.

We cannot allow this to happen!

Explain to your child:

If racism goes unchallenged it can result in things like:

• Bullying
• Pressuring people to behave in ways that they do not want to, so they 'fit in'
• Offensive comments
• Unwanted attention or being ‘singled’ out as the person looks 'different'
• Face to face and online harassment
• Violence and threats

Tell your child:

We can see that, and understand that, racism is wrong, but unfortunately not everyone understands that it is.

Explain that you are going to try and help them teach others about the fact that essentially we are all the same.

Tell your child that they are going to produce a poster showing why they do not agree with racism, stereotypes and prejudice.

Show them this example that challenges the idea of stereotyping and racism.

View the Racism is wrong examples

If you are able, now print a Racism is wrong poster sheet for your child.

View the Racism is wrong poster

If you don’t have a printer please use any blank paper you have.

Ask your child to design and create a poster, or message, that challenges stereotyping and racism.

Discuss some ideas, these could be:

• Stereotypes are stupid and wrong!
• We should NEVER say racist things as it is unkind, unfair and hurtful
• Racists can get into a lot of trouble – racism is against the law!

However, instead of looking just at the negatives (bad things) you could, and should, look at the positives as well.

Some more positive examples could be:

• We are only 0.02% different from each other, so we are really, pretty much, all the same!
• It is fun to learn about and celebrate our little differences, it makes us all more interesting
• We all like eating (different foods), it is great that we have such a huge choice

Your child could even take their design into school to show their teacher what they have been learning at home with you.

Well done on completing this Activity!