skin colour

[oxfordcomma75]

News was on the other day on tv and it showed a person with dark coloured skin. Dd 21 months got upset and switched tv off. Same thing happened today with a colleague in real life.
Any tips on how to deal with this appreciated.
Thank you.

I don't understand what you mean. Especially with the colleague thing? Do you mean that your 21 month old became upset when she saw a black person?

Has she had a Dr or nurse with dark skin taking blood from her? A toddler I knew was terrified of people with dark skin because the only person she'd met with dark skin was a nurse and she was upset at having blood taken and associated the experience with the appearance of the person. We come from a very white part of the UK so the child didn't have any friends who were not white and rarely saw people who weren't white.

The parents bought a couple of books with characters who were not white ( through my window is a lovely book) and put kids programs like Mr tumble on as it is real life ( not cartoons) and there is quite a racial mix.

My 18 month old is quite suspicious of people with head coverings, he hates it when I have a towel on my head, he is slowly getting used to it.

Our21 month old lg is the same, she is usually quite confident and smiles and waves hi to people in the street, but a few weeks back we were walking to the shop and a black lady walked passed and smiled and lg stopped and looked at her then panicked and clung to me. Same happened at my parents, a neighbour knocked on the door who is also black and even tho my mum was holding my lg she panicked and wanted to get away back into the living room. Although it then occurred to me, we live in an area where we have more white British or Eastern European people rather than darker skin and same with nursery she has no darker skinned or black children or staff there so it might just be something they notice as something they are not used to. I don't think they are being racist lol just noticing the different??

Oh and when younger she would cry at people with glasses on lol and now she is suspicious of people with hats, headdresses or me with a towel on my head like PP mentioned.

Thank you for replies. Yes, went to an informal team meeting and she positively cowered and clung to me when she saw my colleague/friend.
We live in a very white area so I guess it is the fear of the unknown.
Thank you for the tip re books.