Katherine Heigl shared how she talked to her children about race and it may be helpful for other parent’s who are struggling on how to have this conversation with their children. This year has brought many tough conversations on families. They have had to talk to their children about COVID-19, elections and racism.
While these are things that children should be informed about, it is not always an easy conversation to have. Celebrities have also had to have these conversations with their children and sometimes their experience can help inspire another mom.
According to Today, Katherine Heigl is the latest celebrity that has had the conversation with her children. She opened up about how she didn’t know how to tell them that there will be people in the world who don’t like you, simply because of the color of your skin.
Katherine shares three children with her husband, Josh Kelley. She has a 12-year-old daughter, who was born in South Korea, an 8-year-old daughter who is Black and an almost 4-year-old son. Earlier in the year when the BLM protests were erupting all over the country, she struggled with how to have these talks with her children. She opened up when she appeared in a virtual episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
She said the main reason the conversation was so hard is because she didn’t want to “take a piece of their soul.” This mean that she needed to find the best way to address the issue. The strategy she used was that they watched a lot of programs together, and when something particularly “ugly” was said, they would stop it and talk to their daughter. She said that they told their daughter that if anyone every said something like that to her that it is not a reflection of her, but themselves.
Their daughter responded by saying that she was beautiful and “super cool” and the two just had to laugh it off. Katherine had previously shared a picture on her Instagram account of her daughter, and wrote how she was concerned for her daughter’s future and that it was leading to some sleepless nights.
This is something a lot of parents can relate to, and this is why it is so important that moms raise the next generation to be welcoming and tolerant so that we can hopefully start to see some real change in the world.
Sources: Today, YouTube via The Kelly Clarkson Show