to think that there should be more kids characters of colour - black, white, asian etc out there?

[semi]

Knowing that kids do in fact see colour - and always categorise things, should I not want characters like Lotta (from the amazing Charlie and Lola stable) to take a lead role? My little one is bi-racial - and I am surprised at how few role models there are out there for her (and yes, I know I am supposed to be her principal role model and shouldn't expect the TV to do my job - but visuals are everything with kids)...I'd be interested in what others think

Childrens TV presenters seem to reflect diversity - does that help balance things out at all?

Are you talking about the BBC? They go far far out of their way to ensure there is a mix of characters in their childrens programming.

They are hypersensitive on the issues of race and diversity.

I think TV is not that bad. It's books I find tricky. I was pleased when I found the 'Jump at the Sun' fairy tales here

i do go out of my way I think to make sure that they have books with black characters in where they are just normal stories. when I asked my dd's nursery teacher about it she only had hand's fruit in the whole classroom and I was a bit at that.

savoy, loving those books and totally agree that there is a distinct lack of non-white characters in books.

I personally think that TV characters are pretty well-balanced and have noticed a lot of diversity, but I can only speak from a CBeebies/Nick J point of view (DD1 is just 3 years old). Not sure if the same applies for programmes aimed at older children.

I think CBeebies on the whole is very good. There are loads of non-white presenters and main characters in lots of the shows and many of the children participating (i.e in Balamory, Waybuloo, I can cook) are also non-white.

Not sure what you're on about really.

Another good author for the books is Bernard Ashley who wrote 'Cleversticks' which is quite a well known book about starting school and one of our favourites double the love which is about a mixed race child's two grandmother's but NOT about the fact that one is white and one is black.

Sometimes I feel the BBC goes a bit overboard in it's effort to reflect diversity and minorities so they are actually hugely over represented on TV, especially childrens TV.

I certainly don't feel like they should be doing anymore... Things like Postman Pat are completely unrecognisable from the PP of my childhood which shows how much they have done to include minorities. DS has just watched Chris and Pui etc, there is that truly terrible programme 'Same Smile' present solely by an Asian presenter and one of the main CBBC presenters is black and one is disabled.

I agree semi. There's too much tokenism in casting for live and animation programs. Presenting seems to be the one domain where programmers realise they need to be talking to their audience and reflect diversity.

There are very few children's programs with main characters of colour or with a disability. The talent is out there, (which is something casting hide behind) and are very lucky to be fobbed off with supporting or bit parts.

Am I bitter? BBC seems to be earnest about promoting diversity, but it still doesn't go far enough.

It took a long time for this to come to fruition.

But this is an exception that proves the rule. And it is annoying that in order to represent a culture (rather than an individual) it has to be done in an obvious,justified, often stereotyped way rather than spontaeneously.

Rant over.

I think there is less black programming for kids- when I was younger we had kenan. And kel, the fresh prince, sister sister.. My wife and kids...

Well, if we're trying to be utterly 'fair' and reflect the ethnic mix of Britain as a whole, the last census here suggests that, out of every 100 characters,
92 'should' be white
4 'should' be any Asian descent - but not Chinese
2 'should' be black (of any descent)
1 'should' be mixed race
1/2 'should' be Chinese.

So if you've got a cast of ten, say, odds are they will all be white. So well done BBC, frankly. I'd guesstimate their ration of white to non-white is at least 7:3, not 9:1 (though I only watch CBeebies).

Be interesting to see what the next census says.

Interesting post Awesome

Ishouldprobablywax - I agree. I loved the fresh prince when I was a teenager and it seems the states had more programmes with black actors in a lead role when I was growing up - Moesha and The Cosby Show etc
I don't know how things fare currently? As a mixed race teenager these shows were great for me but whats more, all my friends -black, white, asian etc liked them too.

Cant think of any lead roles in childrens shows given to black or Asian kids or kids with disabilities-can anyone else?

I like children's books (and grown-up books for that matter) when you just have a few suggestive clues or don't find out anything certain until late on.

I always liked the way with lots of Diana Wynne Jones's books, she is clearly thinking of a dyslexic child but (except in one, which is the crapper for it), she doesn't actually spell it out. So there's Magicians of Caprona, which has a child who seems slow at magic and can't learn, so he escapes into reading 'fantasy' books about places where there's no magic for him to struggle with. It was nice being able to identify with the child but not being patronized with some heavy-handed 'and this, children, is how Thick Dyslexic Kids can Do Well'.

Tracy Beaker has kids with disabilities but doesn't actually mention it. No wheelchairs though.

There is a programme with a deaf child in too but it was awful & v token ( they signed to talk directly to her but not if she was sitting at the table with them IYSWIM)

And following that reasoning AwesomeWellies, out of every 1000 programs the lead character in 5 of them should be of East Asian.

(assuming that by 'not Chinese' you meant Japanese, Korean, Thai... and basically Asian countries that are not South Asian).

Not the case by a long shot, and not reflected with other minorities either.

what riven said.
dd would love to see more dc's in wheelchairs(not just the token adult or the kids on something special)

Sorry Awsesome, I see that it was the wiki source classing Chinese as a separate Asian group. Though you did put all the South Asian groups together.

Became growly, as mixing geographical and cultural markers for diversity forms is a bugbear of mine. ie. One nation vs a physical characteristic. Surely 'white' and 'slightly brown' would be more consistent categories. As would Chinese and French.

Apologies at going of topic and rambling.

I found this thread on the Ouch! message boards interesting. I couldn't see a lead with a disability.

Kids TV is fine IMO.

Books are trickier, but there are lots of lists of good suggestions on the Internet, a quick Google should find them. Where do you live? because if you live in a multi-cultural area then your local library is probably well stocked with suitable books (e.g. Brixton library is unsurprisingly very good for this).

It's fine at the baby stage where they read the same book a hundred times in a row, and fine at 8+, where they read long books that take them ages - but I can see it might be a problem when they're at the ten books a week stage, even if you're happy with a ratio of (say) four white only:four anthropomorphic animal heros:two racially diverse you might find yourself rapidly running out of good candidates for the third category.

The Percy Jackson books are a bit rubbish on race though, but he's clearly made a huge effort to make up for it with the new series, which is about a pair of mixed race siblings (who are also reincarnations of Egyptian deities).