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White children playing Monopoly should be given more money and less jail time, to teach them about racial privilege, UK councils have advised parents.
Mothers and fathers have also been warned about singing nursery rhymes “steeped in white culture”, including Baa Baa Black Sheep.
The guidance on how to “raise anti-racist children” was created for Barbie manufacturers Mattel with the help of a BBC education consultant. It has since been pushed by local councils in England.
It offers tips on how to explain racism to children aged up to 12, to help them go from being “complicit” in racism to being an anti-racist “ally” who can “acknowledge and understand white privilege”.
In advice for parenting children aged nine to 12, titled Facilitating Change, Amplifying Other Voices, it suggests parents should use “board game metaphors”.
One example includes playing Monopoly but giving white children more money and allowing them to “avoid jail” in order to “explain white supremacy and privilege”.
White players could also be given a “head start on buying property” to convey their racial privilege.
The board game Monopoly is suggested as a vehicle for anti-racism lessons for children. Photo / File
In advice for children aged nought to three, the document says parents should “avoid only singing songs steeped in white culture”, giving the centuries-old English nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black sheep as an example.
It also urges parents to “play music from different cultures” for their children.
The document, shared as a parenting resource by councils including Leicestershire and Southampton, also states: “To fight social justice and create a fairer, more equal world: white communities must commit to being anti-racist”.
It was written in 2020 for Barbie makers Mattel by Emma Worrollo, a brand consultant, and Laura Henry-Allain, who wrote the JoJo & Gran Gran book series adapted for TV by CBeebies.
Her website states she is “a board member for the Children’s Media Foundation” and an “educational consultant for the BBC”.
Henry-Allain is also the author of the children’s book My Skin Your Skin, which states on one page that: “Racism started a long time ago when white people wanted to have more control over people who were not white”.
Her co-created advice includes a diagram which states that an ally will “support anti-racist leaders and causes”.
The Supporting You to Raise Anti-racist Children resource warns that surrounding children “with people and stimulus who are white” is tantamount to being “complicit” in racism.
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Those with children aged 3 to 6 are advised among other things to ask when reading stories: “Do you think this person might be being racist?”
Parents of 6 to 9-year-olds are advised to show their children petitions they are signing, and to teach their youngsters how to call out racism.
Parents of 9 to 12-year-olds should also “encourage them to take part in activism”, the guidance states.
It also urges parents to examine their own potentially racist behaviours and ask themselves questions including: “Do you draw your child closer to you when you pass a group of black youths?”
The advice was drawn up in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
The document is still offered as a parenting resource by Leicestershire county council, which includes it online under the heading “inclusion and equality in early years and childcare”.
Southampton city council includes the resources on its website under the same heading, while Lambeth borough council and the City of London corporation have also shared the material online.
The councils, Mattel and the authors of the guidance have been contacted for comment.
