Embracing differences doesn’t necessarily come easily for most kids (or most parents either, for that matter). Our kids just naturally want to stick with people who they like and who seem the most like them. But we can help our children grow and develop and learn how to interact with a variety of people in different situations if we encourage them to get to know people they don’t necessarily like.
I’m thinking of that classic parent’s ploy of having our child take “one bite” of a food they think they don’t like. The goal being, of course, to get them to try new things and they just might find they actually DO like a particular banned food. Or, at least, they may find they don’t hate it as much as they thought they did. The same technique can be applied to people–encouraging our children to just take a little time and do “one thing” with someone they don’t think they like. Even if they don’t become fast friends, just interacting with the person may help our child to see them as a “person” and not an enemy.
As parents, we can show our kids how we get to know people we don’t necessarily like (although, depending on the age of your child, you have to be careful actually saying that you don’t like someone, a youngster is likely to broadcast it to the entire neighborhood, the pastor, and all the kids at school.). Showing our kids how we can find good qualities and take the time to get to know those who don’t strike us as the type of people we’d be “fast friend” with can show them how it can be done.
Supervising your child while he or she is playing or at an activity or practice and encouraging him or her to include the person who isn’t liked is one way to influence your child. If the person is in class with your child, you might have a confidential conversation with your child’s teacher and see if the two can work on a project together or be assigned to a small group activity as part of a team. Just spending some time with someone who your child thinks he doesn’t like may be all it takes to get rid of some of the assumptions.
See Also: What if You Don’t Like Your Child’s Friend? and What if You Hate Your Child’s Teacher?