White children playing Monopoly should be given more money and less jail time, to teach them about racial privilege, councils have advised parents, reports the Telegraph.
The guidance on how to “raise anti-racist children” was created for Barbie manufacturers Mattel with the help of a BBC education consultant. It has since been pushed by local councils in England.
It offers tips on how to explain racism to children from nought to 12 years old, to help them go from being “complicit” in racism to being an anti-racist “ally” who can “acknowledge and understand white privilege”.
In advice for parenting children aged nine to 12, titled Facilitating Change, Amplifying Other Voices, it suggests parents should use “board game metaphors”.
One example includes playing Monopoly but giving white children more money and allowing them to “avoid jail” in order to “explain white supremacy and privilege”.
White players could also be given a “head start on buying property” to convey their racial privilege.
The document is offered as a parenting resource by Leicestershire county council, which includes it online under the heading “inclusion and equality in early years and childcare”.
Southampton city council includes the resources on its website under the same heading, while Lambeth borough council and the City of London corporation have also shared the material online.
It was written in 2020 for Barbie makers Mattel by Emma Worrollo, a brand consultant, and Laura Henry-Allain, who wrote the JoJo & Gran Gran book series adapted for TV by CBeebies.
Her website states she is a “a board member for the Children’s Media Foundation” and an “educational consultant for the BBC”.
Ms Henry-Allain is also the author of the children’s book My Skin Your Skin, which states on one page that: “Racism started a long time ago when white people wanted to have more control over people who were not white.”
Her co-created advice includes a diagram which states that an ally will “support anti-racist leaders and causes”.
The Supporting You to Raise Anti-racist Children resource warns that surrounding children “with people and stimulus who are white” is tantamount to being “complicit” in racism.
Those with children aged three to six are advised among other things to ask when reading stories: “Do you think this person might be being racist?”
Parents of six to nine-year olds are advised to show their children petitions they are signing, and to teach their youngsters how to call out racism.
Parents of nine to 12-year-olds should also “encourage them to take part in activism”, the guidance states.
