<p>Children as young as two to three years old are able to pick up on racial categories and stereotypes, and to infer that others' behavior is driven by race (also gender and other categories).</p>

<p>Of course, at that age children are actively exploring causes in the world of all types, so a comment asking about Arabic language does not mean that a child is experiencing extensive discrimination due to race - on the other hand, I think it would be naive to think anyone with any minority characteristic is not experiencing <em>any</em> discrimination ever, especially in comments from other kids who are themselves learning about the world and other people. It also could have been something overheard on TV, it could have been from a <em>discussion</em> of discrimination rather than an <em>experience</em>, etc. </p>

<hr>

<p>Corenblum, B., &amp; Annis, R. C. (1993). Development of racial identity in minority and majority children: An affect discrepancy model. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 25(4), 499.</p>

<p>Hirschfeld, L. A. (2008). Children’s developing conceptions of race. Handbook of race, racism, and the developing child, 37-54.</p>

<p>Katz, P. A., &amp; Kofkin, J. A. (1997). Race, gender, and young children. Developmental psychopathology: Perspectives on adjustment, risk, and disorder, 21, 51-74.</p>

<p>Pauker, K., Ambady, N., &amp; Apfelbaum, E. P. (2010). Race salience and essentialist thinking in racial stereotype development. Child Development, 81(6), 1799-1813.</p>

<p>Taylor, R. G. (1966). Racial stereotypes in young children. The Journal of Psychology, 64(2), 137-142.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-31T16:35:16.520Z
2019-05-31T16:35:16.520Z
Bryan Krause
<p>I wonder if what happened with my son(6yo) is a matter of concern or just a coincidence.</p>

<p>I think I need to give a bit of background to help analyze what happened.
We are an Arab family live in the UK, majority of my town is of European/Caucasian ethnicity, although there are few Arab families we know about, but we don't really communicate much.
He is the only student who speaks Arabic in his class (there are Polish and maybe other European languages), I don't know about the rest of the school, but if I guess, there isn't in this school.</p>

<p>Me and him were in the car, I was looking for a place to park, and just went by a car park but it wasn't available for normal parking (contract parking).
I said: We can't park here.
He said: Why? Is it because we speak Arabic?</p>

<p>At the beginning I laughed, and told him there is no such thing, but couple of seconds later I was wondering, how would he develop such idea?</p>

<p>I know this might sound like a troll, but I swear that what really happened, and I am concerned if my son is facing any acts of racism/discrimination, maybe in the school.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T01:34:27.260Z
Racism isn't developed, it's taught. Consider the situation from your son's perspective. You wanted to park, you told your son you weren't allowed to use this lot even though other people *had* parked there. Your son would relate this to some similar incident he had already experienced. Perhaps some other children had at some time told him he can't play with them because he's an Arab. He's going to make the logical connection and ask you if the same reason applies in this case too.
Ray Butterworth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T18:12:28.673Z
That is possible, but I don't think it would have been from English students, it could have been from European ones because they want to speak Polish or other eastern European languages when playing. I forgot about this question, I have no concerns now :D
Mocas
<social-psychology><racism>
At what age a child would develop a sense of racism or a minority discrimination?
Mocas
# At what age a child would develop a sense of racism or a minority discrimination?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-31)

I wonder if what happened with my son(6yo) is a matter of concern or just a coincidence.

I think I need to give a bit of background to help analyze what happened.
We are an Arab family live in the UK, majority of my town is of European/Caucasian ethnicity, although there are few Arab families we know about, but we don't really communicate much.
He is the only student who speaks Arabic in his class (there are Polish and maybe other European languages), I don't know about the rest of the school, but if I guess, there isn't in this school.

Me and him were in the car, I was looking for a place to park, and just went by a car park but it wasn't available for normal parking (contract parking).
I said: We can't park here.
He said: Why? Is it because we speak Arabic?

At the beginning I laughed, and told him there is no such thing, but couple of seconds later I was wondering, how would he develop such idea?

I know this might sound like a troll, but I swear that what really happened, and I am concerned if my son is facing any acts of racism/discrimination, maybe in the school.

**Tags:** social-psychology, racism

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Racism isn't developed, it's taught. Consider the situation from your son's perspective. You wanted to park, you told your son you weren't allowed to use this lot even though other people *had* parked there. Your son would relate this to some similar incident he had already experienced. Perhaps some other children had at some time told him he can't play with them because he's an Arab. He's going to make the logical connection and ask you if the same reason applies in this case too.  
> **username_0**: That is possible, but I don't think it would have been from English students, it could have been from European ones because they want to speak Polish or other eastern European languages when playing. I forgot about this question, I have no concerns now :D  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-05-31. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Children as young as two to three years old are able to pick up on racial categories and stereotypes, and to infer that others' behavior is driven by race (also gender and other categories).

Of course, at that age children are actively exploring causes in the world of all types, so a comment asking about Arabic language does not mean that a child is experiencing extensive discrimination due to race - on the other hand, I think it would be naive to think anyone with any minority characteristic is not experiencing *any* discrimination ever, especially in comments from other kids who are themselves learning about the world and other people. It also could have been something overheard on TV, it could have been from a *discussion* of discrimination rather than an *experience*, etc.

---

Corenblum, B., & Annis, R. C. (1993). Development of racial identity in minority and majority children: An affect discrepancy model. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 25(4), 499.

Hirschfeld, L. A. (2008). Children’s developing conceptions of race. Handbook of race, racism, and the developing child, 37-54.

Katz, P. A., & Kofkin, J. A. (1997). Race, gender, and young children. Developmental psychopathology: Perspectives on adjustment, risk, and disorder, 21, 51-74.

Pauker, K., Ambady, N., & Apfelbaum, E. P. (2010). Race salience and essentialist thinking in racial stereotype development. Child Development, 81(6), 1799-1813.

Taylor, R. G. (1966). Racial stereotypes in young children. The Journal of Psychology, 64(2), 137-142.


---

