Early Risers

Early Risers

Minnesota Public Radio

George Floyd’s death was a tragedy and a wake up call — expanding a global conversation about race and racism. And young children have been watching it all. So how do we help them make sense of this? Early Risers is a podcast from Little Moments Count and MPR with frank facts, engaging stories and real how-tos for anyone who cares about raising children with a clear-eyed understanding of cultural differences, race and implicit bias. Hosted by Dianne Haulcy of The Family Partnership.

How Children Can Become Critical Thinkers about Race in Media

How Children Can Become Critical Thinkers about Race in Media

What if, before you learned to read, you learned to ask questions? Faith Rogow calls it a “habit of inquiry,” and tells Dianne it’s more important now than ever. That’s because the explosion of media can be confusing, overwhelming and reinforce racial stereotypes. Little learners CAN become critical thinkers. Dr. Rogow says never take media - from books to apps - at face value. Instead, ask open-ended questions to start conversations - about race and everything else.  Episode Resources:Media Lit

Dec 4, 2024 • 27:15

What Social Science Says Parents Can Do About Implicit Bias

What Social Science Says Parents Can Do About Implicit Bias

If you thought experiments about race were a thing of the past, Sylvia Perry has news for you. In her social psychology lab at Northwestern University, she’s trying to figure out where racial bias comes from. She is finding that talking about race with children decreases prejudice. She tells Dianne how her career was shaped by her own upbringing as a Black girl in the rural South, and she offers guidance for caregivers on how to lead these conversations, including sharing examples of how she’s h

Nov 20, 2024 • 21:44

Honest Beginnings: Using Explicit Language to Discuss Race and Identity with Young Children

Honest Beginnings: Using Explicit Language to Discuss Race and Identity with Young Children

What was it like to work at Sesame Workshop back in the day? How about Nickelodeon? As a proud Chinese American, Courtney Wong Chin was thrilled to help the companies find ways to talk about race and culture. In this episode, Chin pulls back the curtain on content creation at Noggin and Sesame Workshop. She talks about the challenge of finding language and images that are culturally specific but not confusing, and the importance of noticing and celebrating diverse identities to help build childr

Nov 6, 2024 • 23:33

Talking With Young Children About Race and Identity

Talking With Young Children About Race and Identity

Nicol Russell is vice president for implementation research for Teaching Strategies, a professional development company for early childhood educators. She has taught young children, managed a childcare center, and worked in state government, consistently striving to promote self-esteem and a positive cultural identity in both children and educators.Nicol Russell started hearing about race when she was a little girl. Her parents were from two different backgrounds and made sure she was proud of t

Oct 23, 2024 • 24:12

Sparking Early Childhood Conversations About Race

Sparking Early Childhood Conversations About Race

Wouldn’t it be great to play games for a living? That’s a big part of John Sessler’s job for PBS Kids. He tells Early Risers host Dianne Haulcy the work is fun, but not simple. PBS Kids content is required to meet learning goals while also expanding what children know about race and culture. PBS Kids starts with diverse teams of content creators and ends with children as active and curious consumers of media.Guest: John Sessler is Director of Professional Learning for Ready To Learn at PBS Kids.

Oct 9, 2024 • 23:13

Media’s Potential to Help Dismantle Racism

Media’s Potential to Help Dismantle Racism

Media companies like Cartoon Network consult Dr. Kira Banks to help ensure they portray diverse families accurately and respectfully. When Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, Dr. Banks and her family had just moved to nearby St. Louis. The psychology professor was teaching her two young sons to be proud of their African American heritage. After the crisis, she doubled down on her commitment to change the narrative kids hear about race. She says the work starts with the stor

Sep 25, 2024 • 22:33

Seeing Race Through Picture Books

Seeing Race Through Picture Books

What if you COULD tell a book by its cover? What if the pictures and design were as important as the words? That’s the idea behind Megan Dowd Lambert’s “Whole Book Approach” to reading. As a mother to five children of color and two white children, Dowd Lambert promotes reading “with a race-conscious lens.” As a professional storyteller, she explains why it’s important to read with children, and not just to them.Episode Resources:Megan Dowd Lambert’s websiteBooks inspired by Megan Dowd L

Sep 11, 2024 • 29:27

Understanding Racial Identity in Young Children

Understanding Racial Identity in Young Children

“Racial identity” refers to a person’s understanding of different racial identities, one’s preferences for a particular racial identity and how identities are ranked in their family, their society and in their own mind. Toni Sturdivant has spent her career developing a library of books and a collection of teaching ideas for the early childhood classroom that will help young children establish a positive racial identity. In this episode, she talks about her work and her particular focus on boosti

Mar 20, 2024 • 27:24

An Anti-Bias Approach to Classroom Management

An Anti-Bias Approach to Classroom Management

One of the hardest parts of teaching is managing the classroom to promote learning, keep order and inspire students. Many approaches to classroom management are punitive and reproachful. Reddy describes a different approach that–at its core– celebrates students and gives them opportunities to practice their identities.Guest: Shawn Prakash Reddy was an elementary school teacher in Chicago public schools for nearly ten years. He is now Associate Director of Teacher Development at National Louis Un

Mar 6, 2024 • 22:05

Grassroots Work on Structural Racism

Grassroots Work on Structural Racism

Structural racism is different than interpersonal racism. It is the set of policies and practices that put BIPOC communities at a disadvantage from the earliest stages of life. So how can we work in our early childhood communities to identify structural racism and make change so that young people - BIPOC and white - are no longer harmed by structural racism? Jen Neitzel shares examples from her work in communities across the United States.Guest: Jen Neitzel is the executive director of the Educa

Feb 21, 2024 • 20:09

Making the Classroom Reflect the Community

Making the Classroom Reflect the Community

Theressa Lenear was practicing anti-bias education long before it was widely known as an approach to early learning. As a young Black teacher in Alaska, she tapped into her intuition to guide her practices with young children. She created a classroom-wide deep respect for her students’ cultures. She shares her perspectives on how to support BIPOC children in underserved communities.Guest: Theressa Lenear is an early childhood education instructor at Goddard College. She has worked with young chi

Feb 7, 2024 • 25:59

Being in Community With Children

Being in Community With Children

Many programs that offer innovation in education ask teachers to adopt a new curriculum or implement a new procedure in their classroom. But when it comes to anti-bias work, Veronica Reynoso says there is no new curriculum. Instead, you need to be in community with children and disrupt the biases and stereotypes they pick up from the world. She explains how she does this and how the children respond.Guest: Veronica Reynoso is an early childhood teacher and mentor teacher at Hilltop Children’s Ce

Jan 24, 2024 • 29:24

Making Space for Teachers on Race

Making Space for Teachers on Race

If we adults want to work with young children on issues related to race and racism, we first need to work with ourselves. Marie Lister describes the learning communities she facilitates with teachers to help them become aware of, and address, their own biases. She discusses how the work adults do in these communal learning spaces can benefit young children immeasurably for years to come.Episode Resources: Marie coaches early childhood teachers through the nonprofit Before RacismDiscussion Guide:

Jan 10, 2024 • 28:12

Parent Highlights with Dr. Richard Lee

Parent Highlights with Dr. Richard Lee

In this episode, Dianne is joined by Dr. Richard Lee, a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Asian American Studies program at the University of Minnesota. Together, they explore some of the parenting stories featured in season four of Early Risers. Dianne and Dr. Lee also share valuable insights to help parents discuss race and racism with the young children in their lives.

Jun 14, 2023 • 28:51

Parenting Through Race and Identity: A Somali American Mother's Story

Parenting Through Race and Identity: A Somali American Mother's Story

In this episode of Early Risers, we delve into the parenting journey of Ayan Omar, a Somali American mother living in St. Cloud, Minnesota with her husband and two young daughters. As an interracial and interfaith couple, Ayan and her husband have faced unique challenges in raising their children. In this conversation with host Dianne, Ayan shares her experiences navigating conversations about race and racism with her daughters, and how her own upbringing in a predominantly Black community has i

May 31, 2023 • 26:52

Navigating Parenthood as Black Parents in a Majority White Community

Navigating Parenthood as Black Parents in a Majority White Community

Cecilia Amadou is a Ghanaian mother raising her son in the Fargo-Moorhead area of Minnesota. In this episode of Early Risers, Cecilia shares her experiences navigating parenthood and conversations about race and racism in a community that is over 90% white. As Black parents with roots in Africa, Cecilia and her husband offer a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of raising a child in a predominantly white environment. Episode resources: “Mothering While Black: Boundaries and B

May 17, 2023 • 24:22

Parenting as a Black and Biracial Single Mother in Minnesota

Parenting as a Black and Biracial Single Mother in Minnesota

In this episode of Early Risers, host Dianne speaks with Acacia Ward, a young Black and biracial single mother of three living in Rochester, Minnesota. Acacia shares her experiences growing up in a predominantly white community and how she's navigating conversations about race and identity with her children. As a mother of a son with a Sudanese father, Acacia offers insights on how she and her co-parent are helping their child appreciate his cultural heritage. This episode offers a candid and th

May 3, 2023 • 18:49

Navigating Parenthood as Black Parents in a Growing Minnesota City

Navigating Parenthood as Black Parents in a Growing Minnesota City

In this episode of Early Risers, Dianne speaks with Kai and James Miller, a married couple raising their two daughters in Rochester, Minnesota. Kai and James share their experiences as Black parents in a growing city that's becoming more racially diverse. Despite the demographic changes, the Millers have struggled with feeling isolated while working to ensure their daughters see positive representations of themselves in school and the community. Even with these challenges, Kai and James are ta

Apr 19, 2023 • 27:55

White Parents Navigating Anti-Racist Parenting in Minneapolis

White Parents Navigating Anti-Racist Parenting in Minneapolis

In this episode of Early Risers, Dianne speaks with Ellen Guettler, a white parent raising her two boys in Minneapolis. Ellen shares her journey of practicing anti-racist parenting in community with other white parents. Growing up, Ellen attended integrated public schools in St. Paul during the 1990s.  She remembers feeling tensions around race and racism but never had the opportunity to talk about these issues with adults. Now, as a parent, Ellen is committed to navigating these conversations w

Mar 22, 2023 • 24:30

How Children’s Books can be Tools for Resistance: A Conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

How Children’s Books can be Tools for Resistance: A Conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is an award-winning historian who is known for his best-selling books on antiracism. But a few years ago, he also started writing books for very young children, including a new book “Magnolia Flower,” which he adapted from a short story written by Zora Neale Hurston. In this special episode of Early Risers, Dr. Kendi reflects on his personal journey as a parent and children’s book author, including how children’s books can teach children about cultivating love as a tool for re

Nov 30, 2022 • 24:36

Early Risers: Wisdom From Our Guests

Early Risers: Wisdom From Our Guests

How do children learn about race or racism? Is it ever too early to start talking to them about it? What kinds of conversations should we be having with young children about these issues? In this special episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy revisits highlights from some of her past interviews with educators, psychologists, children’s book authors, brain researchers, therapists, and others. Together these experts offer insights, practical tools, and guidance for raising children with an un

Aug 10, 2022 • 48:01

A Pediatrician Gets Real with His Patients in Talking About Race

A Pediatrician Gets Real with His Patients in Talking About Race

When it comes to a child’s healthy development, the role of a family pediatrician can’t be underestimated. In recent years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health officials have identified racism as a serious public health threat. So how can pediatricians help parents and caregivers address issues of race and racism? Dr. Nathan Chomilo is a practicing general pediatrician as well as a leading voice around health equity, both in Minnesota and on the national level. He des

Jul 27, 2022 • 33:55

How Babies Start to Learn About Race

How Babies Start to Learn About Race

Babies are like little scientists. They come into the world with a natural ability to notice patterns and form connections. By the time a child is two years old, research shows that they are already noticing racial differences. Dr. Charisse Pickron is an assistant professor and director of the Child Brain and Perception Lab at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. She investigates how babies and toddlers start to learn about race, including why humans may have evolved to

Jul 13, 2022 • 32:58

Helping Children to Love the Skin They’re In

Helping Children to Love the Skin They’re In

As parents and caregivers, we need to be intentional about helping children–especially children of color–develop a strong foundation of positive self-esteem and ego strength. This protects them from internalizing racist messages and helps them to build a positive racial identity. Research studies show that having a positive racial and ethnic identity is associated with higher resilience and problem-solving skills. But where should parents and caregivers begin? Guest: Dr. Aisha White directs a p

Jun 29, 2022 • 24:34

Disrupting the bias within us

Disrupting the bias within us

What should we say when a young child expresses or experiences racial bias? Maybe it’s when a child makes a comment about somebody’s skin color being ‘too dark’ or how they don’t want to play with a child of a different race. Or maybe it’s when a child has experienced racial bullying or some other kind of racialized incident in the classroom. As adults, we may find ourselves reacting or freezing up in these moments. A healthier response is to prepare what early childhood education professor and

Jun 15, 2022 • 33:21

The Power of Place: Visiting George Floyd Square with Young Children

The Power of Place: Visiting George Floyd Square with Young Children

George Floyd Square in Minneapolis has become a creative memorial and gathering space for healing. It also tells a much bigger story about racism, policing, and the struggle for racial justice in this country and around the world. All of this can be complicated and confusing for a young child. So how can we help children make sense of this? In this episode, Early Risers host Dianne Haulcy visits George Floyd Square with early childhood education expert Sheila Williams Ridge. Together they unpack

Jun 1, 2022 • 30:58

Bias and the Developing Brain

Bias and the Developing Brain

The human brain is hardwired to recognize patterns—that’s how we figure out the world, and why humans have been able to adapt and survive over millennia. But the brain’s ability to quickly form cognitive associations can also lead to racial biases, even in very young children. On the season two finale of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy speaks with University of Minnesota cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Damien Fair about how we can train our brains to recognize bias and why the first thousand days

Jan 19, 2022 • 33:54

Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan—A Live Recording

Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan—A Live Recording

On this special episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy sits down with Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, for an in-person, intimate and wide-ranging conversation. They discuss how she’s been living through the challenges of this moment, including how her experience as an Indigenous woman, state official and parent have shaped how she thinks about issues of racial equity. This conversation was recorded for the 6th Little Moments Count annual meeting held November, 2021. Re

Dec 29, 2021 • 24:25

Making immigrant and refugee stories visible: a conversation with children’s book author Bao Phi

Making immigrant and refugee stories visible: a conversation with children’s book author Bao Phi

Bao Phi’s family came to Minnesota in the 1970s as refugees from Vietnam. He experienced both racism and feeling invisible growing up in Minneapolis. Once he became a parent, he wanted things to be different for his child, which inspired him to start writing stories that weren’t available to him when he was younger. In this episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy explores how Phi’s award-winning children’s books can be wonderful tools for opening conversations with young children about the e

Dec 15, 2021 • 34:34

What’s Happening in the Classroom? Early Childhood Educators and Implicit Bias

What’s Happening in the Classroom? Early Childhood Educators and Implicit Bias

About a quarter of all children in the United States younger than five years old attend some kind of formalized childcare. Early childhood programs can be a great way for children to start learning about the world, including how to build relationships with other children and adults. But part of this learning also involves absorbing the implicit biases in their environment, including unconscious assumptions about race. However, Sheila Williams Ridge, co-director of the University of Minnesota’s

Dec 1, 2021 • 36:59

Rethinking Thanksgiving: How to speak to young children about historical and racialized trauma

Rethinking Thanksgiving: How to speak to young children about historical and racialized trauma

The Thanksgiving “pilgrim and Indian” stories that many of us were taught as children perpetuate harmful stereotypes and whitewash a painful history of violence and colonization that continues to impact Indigenous communities today. How can we have a more honest conversation with our children about this history? On this episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy speaks with early childhood educator and Dakota language activist Vanessa Goodthunder. She is the director of C̣aƞṡayapi Waḳaƞyeża

Nov 17, 2021 • 33:04

Race Matters: A Conversation about Transracial Adoption and Multiracial Families

Race Matters: A Conversation about Transracial Adoption and Multiracial Families

Being able to talk about race is an important life skill for all parents, but especially for parents raising multiracial families. When a family adopts a child of a different race, questions about race and racism cannot be avoided. On this episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy speaks with transracial adoption expert Beth Hall, co-author of “Inside Transracial Adoption” and executive director of Pact, An Adoption Alliance in Oakland, California. Hall also has personal experience with transr

Nov 3, 2021 • 36:14

The Danger of Being ‘Color Silent’: Talking about Race with Young Children

The Danger of Being ‘Color Silent’: Talking about Race with Young Children

Young children are like sponges, absorbing information about the world around them. Children have already started to internalize racialized messages about their value and self-worth by the time they are three to four years old. Psychologist Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, an expert in racial identity development and the author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race” calls this “the smog we’re all breathing.”   In our Season 2 premiere of Ea

Oct 20, 2021 • 36:36

Teaching Anti-Racism; A Live Recording

Teaching Anti-Racism; A Live Recording

This special episode sounds a little different than our normal one-on-one conversations. This is an edited recording of the Early Risers event we hosted on June 17th called Teaching Anti-Racism. There is an incredible panel of experts on early childhood, racial identity and racism including Dr. Rose Marie Allen, Dianne Haulcy and Dr. Brigitte Vittrup. It’s a riveting conversation about common barriers to talking about race and racism with young children and what to say to get these conversations

Jun 25, 2021 • 51:00

Connecting Children to Indigenous Cultures

Connecting Children to Indigenous Cultures

In schools and old children’s books, Native people are often talked about in terms of history. But Brook Lafloe has been creating toys and teaching tools to connect all children to contemporary Native culture in an authentic and respectful way.  In this conversation with podcast host Dianne Haulcy, Brook shares the traditional Anishinaabe teachings she learned about race and respect. And she shares how caregivers from all cultural backgrounds can adopt this approach to race and help their childr

May 26, 2021 • 24:42

Where Does Racism Come From? Best Selling Author and Therapist Resmaa Menakem Breaks It Down for Caregivers

Where Does Racism Come From? Best Selling Author and Therapist Resmaa Menakem Breaks It Down for Caregivers

This week we’re asking a pretty fundamental question that parents might get from their kids: where does racism come from? In this deep and lively conversation host Dianne Haulcy speaks with Resmaa Menakem - therapist, coach and best selling author of My Grandmother’s Hands. He breaks down how racism is connected to generational trauma and he describes practices that can heal the trauma and strengthen anti-racist thinking and action.  Episode Resources: https://www.resmaa.com/movement https://www

May 19, 2021 • 31:52

When it comes to race, there is no such thing as "colorblind" - at home or in school

When it comes to race, there is no such thing as "colorblind" - at home or in school

For years, many adults have believed young children are too young to understand race and racism. Some have felt we need to teach our children to be “colorblind” thinking if you don’t talk about race, kids won’t be racist. But thoughts on this topic are changing and people are talking about race and racism with very young children. In this episode, host Dianne Haulcy talks with Dr. Debra Sullivan about why we talk with very young children about race and racism and how.  Dr. Sullivan also talks ab

May 12, 2021 • 23:58

Healing the hurt; helping children work through racialized conflict

Healing the hurt; helping children work through racialized conflict

It sometimes happens that our loving and joyful young children say something terrible. They can hurt other children’s feelings. And sometimes these hurtful comments are racist. It causes confusion and emotional pain and, long term, it can cause real trauma.  How do we help young children work through these experiences? How do we help the child who has been hurt, the child who did the hurting and the bystanders who are impacted? Resources: Learning for Justice : https://www.learningforjustice.org

May 5, 2021 • 31:29

We Are the Same and We Are Different; How to Talk about Diversity with White Kids in White Communities

We Are the Same and We Are Different; How to Talk about Diversity with White Kids in White Communities

Minnesota’s population is 80% white. Many communities across the state have few if any Black or Native people or people of color.  So how can we teach children to celebrate diversity and talk about race, racism and bias when all their neighbors are white? Early childhood education expert Louise Derman-Sparks shares her rationale and creative tools for teaching white children about race, racism and diversity. Resources “What if All the Kids are White” Paper by Louise Derman-Sparks https://www.tea

Apr 28, 2021 • 29:04

Bad Things Happen: Helping Young Children Process Racism and Violence.

Bad Things Happen: Helping Young Children Process Racism and Violence.

We’re coming to you from Minneapolis, Minnesota where our communities are struggling to process yet another killing of an African American man at the hands of a white police officer. In this conversation, we are focused on our children. How do we prepare them for these events? How do we answer their questions? And how can we build up our BIPOC children so they are stronger than the racism they face? It’s a job for all of us.

Apr 21, 2021 • 27:58

Early Risers Trailer

Early Risers Trailer

This is a quick preview of our new podcast launching the week of April 19th: Early Risers, waking up to racial equity in early childhood hosted by Dianne Haulcy of Think Small.

Apr 2, 2021 • 1:40

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