Anti-Bias Exercise

I have a five year old little brother, and he is full of life, adventure, and much more.  I actually remember a time when my little brother was hanging out with me and we were out and about doing some shopping.  We all know that kids notice everything and pay attention to some things more than adults do. My brother noticed many different people while we were out and about and he did not say anything about what he considered “different” to him until he seen a man that he considered “fat”, and he said, “What that fat man doing in the kid’s store?”  I immediately had to correct him, and told him to be quiet, because he was rather loud when he made his statement.  After he said what he said, I got down on one knee so that I was eye level with him, and I told him that it was not nice to speak that way about no one, regardless if they are different from how he and I look.  I had to explain to him that people are allowed to be different and it does not make them a bad person just because they are different. At the present moment when I made my statement, the looks on his face let me know that he felt like he had done something wrong and that he felt remorse for what he had done.  The messages that he may have gotten were to not say hurtful comments about people and that it is acceptable for people to be different from his appearance.  From an anti-bias educator’s perspective, may have gone a little smoother.  The educator may have asked the child to explain why he feels the way he does and does it benefit him or the person he was talking about in any way?  The educator may have also expressed the importance of respecting each individual for who they are as a person and not based upon what they look like.