In this story, 'You are great, as you are!,' we will explore the concepts of stereotyping, racism, prejudice and intolerance.
Please read through the story for yourself BEFORE reading it with to your child.
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
It is really important to remember that we are ALL more alike than we are different, and that we are all equal, so we should always treat each other with respect, no matter what we look like or where we are from.
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:
Let them think about this for a little while...
Some expected answers might be:
Ask your child:
If YOU were treated the way that Dog was, how do you think it would feel? Some expected answers might be:
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:
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.
Explain to your child:
If racism goes unchallenged it can result in things like:
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.
Discuss some ideas, these could be:
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:
So now we know that racism is wrong and should not be accepted. Racism should be safely challenged.
If they ever see or hear racism being used, remind them that they should always tell you, a trusted adult, or a teacher, straight away so they can help put a stop to it.
Your child could even take their design into school to show their teacher what they have been learning at home with you.