Anti-Racist Practices and Beliefs Among White Parents of Preschoolers

• In Event: The role of affirming high quality experiences on children's wellbeing and learning

Abstract

Allyship occurs when a person in a position of power works to end the system(s) that benefit them and disadvantage a group to which they do not belong (Reason, Scales, & Millar, 2005). Anti-racist allyship, then, is characterized by people with racial privilege (e.g., white people) working to dismantle systemic racism, which contributes to income and wealth inequality. The data available on how white parents socialize their children with respect to race shows that many engage only in very sparse discussions of race and racism (e.g., Zucker & Patterson, 2018). Given that many white parents are not addressing these topics, studying white parents who are intentionally anti-racist is a useful strategy for understanding what white parents in general could be doing to promote anti-racism in their children. Knowledge of the strategies these motivated parents use and the challenges they face will form the basis for future research with a more ideologically diverse sample of parents.

The goal of the current qualitative study was to understand the process through which these parents embody allyship in their parenting, teach allyship to their children, and assess their children’s development of allyship, as well as to understand the information and support needs of parents attempting this work. We examined the beliefs and practices of 25 white parents of 3-to-6-year-old children, all of whom responded to a study advertisement seeking parents who identified as anti-racist. All participants completed a 60-90 minute interview. Data collection was completed in August 2019. Methods of analysis are aligned with grounded theory and include immersion, thematic coding, constant comparison and consensus coding.

Findings suggest that white anti-racist parents engage in showing (efforts to teach allyship by exposing children to anti-racist action or racial diversity) and telling (efforts to teach allyship through conversation). However, parents described feeling lost and uncertain about their efforts, both with respect to how to educate themselves on issues of race and racism and how to convey this education to their children in a developmentally appropriate way. Many parents of noted fears of blundering, saying or doing something that would inadvertently increase their child’s racial bias. Parents also feared that their own children would bring up race and racism with children of color and might, in doing so, cause harm. In general, parents were present-focused and interpersonally focused in their discussions of their children’s anti-racist development, citing goals of teaching their children to value difference and maintain cross-race friendships. Few parents referenced goals related to their child’s long-term role in oppressive social systems. Parents in the study expressed deep uncertainty regarding whether their parenting practices with regard to anti-racism were effective. Findings will be discussed in terms of implications for future research as well as educational intervention with white parents invested in anti-racism. In addition, the presentation will include attention to the broader topic of how anti-oppressive socialization in childhood could reduce social and economic inequality.

Authors

• Amy Heberle, Clark University
  Presenting Author

• Noah Hoch, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author