Home > Want to ensure your classroom and school are inclusive of all families?
Want to ensure your classroom and school are inclusive of all families?
Review your books and curriculum materials, and make sure they include many kinds of families, not merely those with one mom and one dad.
Take gender out of playtime. Make sure all children feel welcome to play with dress-up clothes, kitchen sets, tools or trucks. Avoid sending the message that girls and women do the cooking, and boys and men play sports and fix things.
Check your school forms and parental paperwork—are the spaces labeled “Mom” and “Dad”? A simple change to “Parent or Guardian” is an easy way to make a big difference.
Read your school’s anti-bullying policy. Does it explicitly protect sexual orientation and gender identity? If not, advocate for this crucial change—GLSEN’s 2008 study found that anti-bullying policies without this explicit language are often no better than no policy at all.
Consider how you talk with children about their families. Instead of saying, “Show this to your mom and dad,” consider alternatives like “Show this to your grown-up(s) at home.”
Challenge the assumption that every child has straight parents, married parents or biological parents. “A lot of kids with two moms or two dads live in a divorced family, with step-siblings,” reminds teacher and mom Michele Hatchell. “LGBT families are just like other families, with the same ups and downs. The more sensitive teachers can be to that, the better.”
Conduct an in-service training to make sure everyone at your school is on the same page.
