Tolerance.org is an awesome website with a plethora of information. I don’t know how I have missed this resource up until now, but as a transracial adoptive family, this is a fantastic website and one that I plan to visit often. Tolerance.org states that it is a project of the southern poverty law center, to “Fight Hate and Promote Tolerance.”

Just to give you a sampling of what you can find on Tolerance.org, here are a few links, article names and quotes.

Do’s and Don’t of Teaching Black History

From the “Do” list…

Incorporate black history year-round, not just in February. Use the month of February to dig deeper into history and make connections with the past.

From the “Don’t” list…

Talk about black history in solely "feel-good" language, or as a thing of the past. This fails to help students examine how racism still occurs today.

PARENTING: Explaining Racism to Young Children

How do you explain racism to a child?

Parents of young children recognize this quandary. It requires a bizarre balancing act between offering truthful answers to honest inquiries about human difference and social inequality, and not scaring the child. Parents must also be careful of instilling a concern for difference that might manifest itself in inappropriate ways.

10 Ways to Nurture Tolerance

Point out stereotypes and cultural misinformation depicted in movies, TV shows, computer games and other media. Challenge bias when it comes from friends and family members. Do not let the moment pass. Begin with a qualified statement: "Andrew just called people of XYZ faith 'lunatics.' What do you think about that, Zoe?" Let children do most of the talking.

List of Books for parents on Tolerance

List of great websites promoting tolerance for parents (which has Adoptive Families as the first one listed!)

There is also a great page called “Talk to Kids About” that has resources for discussing a wide variety of challenging topics with kids.

Make sure you check out Play Time, which has a variety of online games and stories that promote tolerance that are age appropriate for kids of many ages, and Story Time, a comprehensive list of books for children that address tolerance.

This site has valuable and helpful information for parents, teachers and children. I hope you enjoy it and take advantage of it. To me, this is the perfect example of the type of wonderful resources that are available for transracial adoptive parents today, that didn't exist for the transracial adoptive parents of 20 years ago.