An Aboriginal inclusion story and activities for NAIDOC week

In Australia we're moving towards a very inclusive education syllabus which aims to give all children in our care a sense of belonging. I wrote the following child-friendly version of the story of Sorry Day because there really wasn't anything at all to help Early Childhood teachers deal with Australia's rather dark history of race relations in an honest (but not too scary) way.  And in the absence of anything to help teachers with this tricky topic, there was a lot of well-meaning misinformation going out.  For example, I watched at one school's group time while a very good teacher told her kids that all aborigines have 'really, really dark skin and live in the desert'; the little honey-brown indigenous girl who was sitting right there in front of her must have found it rather confusing.

Talking to kids about death

We all hope we won't have to explain death to our children.  But as John Lennon so memorably said, 'Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans'- and if talking to your kids about death isn't in your plan, then when it becomes necessary it can be hard to think of how to explain it.  You may be grieving too.  Your kids will be picking up the distress even if you try to shield them. That's NOT the best time to approach a tricky topic.

So why not take the initiative, and talk about it at the first opportunity? The death of a distant relative, a pet, someone else's pet or relative, someone famous in the news- all these events can be the starting point for preparing your children for dealing with death without fear.