”The Anxious Mind” - Fearless Conversations with Children on Race

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“Race can be a very positive thing, but it can also be something that can promote a lot of stress against children. And we want to make sure that children are prepared,” explains Dr. Stephanie Irby Coard, clinical psychologist, professor, and founder and President of Kindred Behavioral Research. Talking to children about difficult topics like anxiety, depression, and racism can be intimidating and stressful for parents, especially parents of color who are having to navigate racism themselves. Today, Dr. Stephanie joins host D-Rich along with Tavara Franklin, CEO and founder of Healing Grounds Therapy and Wellness Center, to discuss how to have fearless conversations with children about important topics that are often viewed as taboo like race and anxiety.

Racial ethnic socialization is all about preparing children of color to deal with racism. It is critical that parents teach conflict resolution and problem solving skills to their children with regard to navigating racism. Otherwise, children may respond by being reactive, which could lead to bigger issues since Black children will often face much harsher consequences for being reactive than their white peers. It’s never too early to start talking about race and instilling positive messages so that children can be more resilient when facing nasty remarks about their skin tone or their hair later on in life.

When it comes to having difficult conversations with children, the best thing a parent can do is to remove the stigma around talking about these topics. If children think a topic is taboo, they might not feel comfortable discussing it, and might even start to think something is wrong with them for having a hard time navigating their emotions.

Quotes

• “Racial ethnic socialization is the process by which we talk to, transmit messages about, expose our children to, meaning around race.” (6:30-6:42 | Dr. Stephanie)

• “Resilience is incredibly important. And I think that racial socialization is actually a mechanism by which we can help our children to be even more resilient.” (15:00-15:11 | Dr. Stephanie)

• “Race can be a very positive thing, but it can also be something that can promote a lot of stress against children. And we want to make sure that children are prepared.” (24:19-24:30 | Dr. Stephanie)

• “Anxiety is a normal emotion. It is a natural emotion, everybody experiences anxiety.” (49:12-49:21 | Tavara)

• “With mindfulness, it helps us to be able to ground ourselves to identify what is most important at this moment.” (54:22-54:30 | Tavara)

Links

Connect with Dr. Stephanie Irby Coard:

Professor Page - https://hhs.uncg.edu/hdf/people/coard-stephanie-irby/

Kindred Behavior Website - http://www.kindredbehavior.com/team-member/dr-stephanie-irby-coard/

Connect with Tavara Franklin, LPC, CAMS:

Website https://healinggroundstherapy.com/hgt-team/

Tavara's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tavarafranklin/

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