Here at Tender Leaf, we are ALL about teaching our children the ways of life, as they are the future of this world. How to learn from our mistakes and those of the past, how to love where love is needed, how to trust and be kind, and how to create a world that is the most fruitful it can be.

How do we know we are teaching our children the RIGHT thing?

Sometimes we don’t have the answer and sometimes there isn’t an answer, and that’s OK. We just have to spread some love and hope it gets passed on.

It has got us thinking, what is the most appropriate way to teach a child about equality and diversity? We want to teach without controlling, but how do you give a child the right guided freedom to think and learn, while relating it to their own everyday life?

Why should one person be different from the next? Why shouldn’t one person be different from the next? Every child knows enough about injustice to be able to voice when something isn’t ‘fair’. Whether someone is old, young, big or small, we all have the same heart and soul! Well we say, let the sweeties do the talking!

We saw a clever teacher online talking about Smarties, and how she used these to discuss equality with her little ones. Take a look, it's brilliant...

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jan/28/teach-students-equality-smarties

Smarties are a great analogy.....how can every single one be a different colour, but taste the same? Because even though they have been made in all the fabulous colours of the rainbow they are still the same yummy sweetie on the inside. Some may even lack the uniform rounded shape and size, but they still taste just as delicious as the next one.

The truth is, if you opened a packet of Smarties and every single one was green, you would think that something was wrong, it wouldn’t seem fair would it? It wouldn’t seem very much fun either. Teach respect for differences, because nobody is the same.

All we can do it make sure our kiddies know how wonderful the world is because of the different types of people that make it up. You can be just as gorgeous and wonderful and fun as the person next to you no matter their age, race, religion, gender, or disability.

Be kind!

Love, the ThreadBear Team x