Firstly apologies if this triggers a reaction in anyone. This post discusses racism. I've created an annonymous account because I'm worried about backlash. Please be kind, as I consider myself an antiracist person and this has troubled me deeply.
When my then 3 year old started nursery last year, she made lots observations about the skin colour of her classmates. Despite growing up in a multicultural area, going to toddler groups etc with children from diverse backgrounds, nursery seemed different to her for some reason. She began to say things like "I don't want X on my tricycle because she has brown skin", or "X can't be Elsa because her skin is the wrong colour", I don't know if she ever said anything at nursery because no-one mentioned it but this was at home after.
I tried not to make a big deal of it but explained that everyone is different, but not on the inside, different skin is just like different eye colour etc. We have always had diverse books, so we read more of these, I bought her more dolls with different skin tones etc and encouraged positive relationships and friendships with children and families from different cultures. I had hoped that we had moved on but recently she told me to give one of her black dolls back to Granny (this dolly was mine when I was little and much treasured!) because she "doesn't like the look", and admitted that even though she's "not bad to them" , she "doesn't like the look" of her friends with dark skin. She hasnt seen friends since March so it's not something she's heard recently. I don't know how to deal with this. I always believed that racism at this age began at home, but this has not come from us. My older son's best friends are a very diverse bunch, and he has no issues with prejudice.
I need to tackle this before she starts school in September, but I don't want to risk making it a bigger deal.
Please please help.