How Reading to Kids Fosters Inclusion

ByTerry Loerch

Bedtime stories are a treasured bonding time. But the books you choose also have immense power to shape your child’s perspectives. What kids read during these impressionable years affects how they view differences and embrace diversity.

Promoting Disability Representation and Understanding:

There are many excellent children’s books now featuring characters with various disabilities—physical, sensory, cognitive, and developmental. Intentionally choosing these stories provides impactful opportunities to organically discuss and demystify disabilities for kids.

Seeing book characters successfully navigating daily life in a wheelchair, using a guide dog, or wearing hearing aids shows children that disabilities are a normal part of the human experience. The goal is to highlight disabled characters’ abilities rather than limitations. This builds empathy and understanding.

For example, reading a simple picture book about a deaf girl using sign language to talk with friends demonstrates how we can connect despite differences. Take time to explain that the girl communicates a little differently but she goes to the same school, plays the same games, and has the same hobbies. This lays a foundation of inclusion.

Celebrating Diversity to Encourage Openness:

Literature also mirrors the rich spectrum of races, cultures, families, and social identities in the world. Expose kids to stories representing different types of people so they appreciate diversity instead of seeing it as alien.

When reading a book about a child raised by grandparents, or a family with two moms, or friends celebrating an Islamic holiday, pause to discuss. Ask gentle questions like “What did you notice about this family?” and “How is it similar or different to our family?” Introduce that there are many wonderful ways to live.

The Benefits of Inclusive Books:

Seeing authentic representation teaches kids that people of all abilities, cultures, and backgrounds have value. It builds self-esteem for children who recognize themselves in stories. It also nurtures understanding of those with different lifestyles and identities.

Pausing while reading to ask thoughtful questions allows you to guide meaningful conversations that stay with children over time, shaping their worldviews.

Through the pages of a humble book, you can instill compassion, empathy, and respect for humanity in all its diversity. Make the most of reading time to quietly foster the foundations of inclusion.

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