How to Talk to Kids About Differences and Inclusion with Beth Leipholtz

How do we talk to kids about children who have differences like spina bifida, fragile X syndrome, autism, or who are deaf or blind? Many times when children ask, out of curiosity, about a child’s difference that they see on the playground, at school or in a store, some adults are quick to shush that child out of fear of embarrassing the other child, the other parent, or themselves. It can catch us off-guard and we may not know what to say. In chapter 5 of my book, which is on talking to kids about diversity and inclusion, I highlight one of my very best friend’s children, Nate, who has Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus, and is now a teen who is happy to tell you about his differences—but it’s not always that way—so how do we talk to our children, when they DO have a difference, about that difference so that they aren’t ashamed and they know that it’s simply part of what makes them who they are-- but not all that they are. For this, we are talking to Beth Leipholtz.