The Dakota Language Nest is a preschool where children are developing their identity through immersion in Dakota culture, traditions and language. In this episode we spend a day with the children as they practice the traditions of smudging, tobacco harvesting, singing songs and showing respect and gratitude for the natural world’s gifts. We speak with lead teacher, Katie Bendickson, about the importance of keeping the language alive, and how the language and traditions are intertwined. We also s...
Jul 23, 2025•34 min
What’s the difference between a mirror book and a window book? For part two of our Identity through Words and Images series, we go on location to climb aboard Babycake’s Book Stack bookmobile! We learn the importance of children seeing characters that look like they do, how that impacts their sense of self, and how seeing books about others broadens their sense of community. Owner Zsamé Morgan underscores the importance of family literacy and offers guidance on how to get started. We also hear f...
Jul 09, 2025•31 min
Resmaa Menakem’s bestselling text “My Grandmother’s Hands” deals with the visceral impact of racialized trauma. But is it important for children to understand the legacy of these wounds? And how do we begin to take up such a weighty topic with young children? We sit down with authors Resmaa Menakem and T. Mychael Rambo to understand how a children’s book can provide an invitation for parents and caregivers to begin to acknowledge the trauma. As Menakem says, “Something happened and continues to ...
Jun 25, 2025•33 min
A child’s sense of self is shaped by their understanding of where they come from: their culture, history and heritage. But how a child begins to develop that understanding heavily depends on their having the tools to study themselves and the world around them. Host Andre Dukes speaks with Gevonee Ford, founder and executive director of Network for the Development of Children of African Descent, about the importance of literacy in a child’s identity development. Guest Gevonee Ford Founder and Exe...
Jun 11, 2025•32 min
New host Andre Dukes sits down with Early Risers’ founding host Dianne Haulcy to reflect on the origins of this podcast. Just days after the murder of George Floyd, Haulcy penned a wakeup call to her peers in early childhood education on the realities of racism and implicit bias in how we raise our children. That message ultimately became Haulcy’s personal call to action, and the foundation for the Early Risers podcast. Haulcy shares her favorite podcast episodes and offers advice to Dukes as he...
May 28, 2025•31 min
What if, before you learned to read, you learned to ask questions? Faith Rogow calls it a “habit of inquiry,” and tells Dianne it’s more important now than ever. That’s because the explosion of media can be confusing, overwhelming and reinforce racial stereotypes. Little learners CAN become critical thinkers. Dr. Rogow says never take media - from books to apps - at face value. Instead, ask open-ended questions to start conversations - about race and everything else. Episode Resources: Media Lit...
Dec 04, 2024•27 min
If you thought experiments about race were a thing of the past, Sylvia Perry has news for you. In her social psychology lab at Northwestern University, she’s trying to figure out where racial bias comes from. She is finding that talking about race with children decreases prejudice. She tells Dianne how her career was shaped by her own upbringing as a Black girl in the rural South, and she offers guidance for caregivers on how to lead these conversations, including sharing examples of how she’s h...
Nov 20, 2024•22 min
What was it like to work at Sesame Workshop back in the day? How about Nickelodeon? As a proud Chinese American, Courtney Wong Chin was thrilled to help the companies find ways to talk about race and culture. In this episode, Chin pulls back the curtain on content creation at Noggin and Sesame Workshop. She talks about the challenge of finding language and images that are culturally specific but not confusing, and the importance of noticing and celebrating diverse identities to help build childr...
Nov 06, 2024•24 min
Nicol Russell is vice president for implementation research for Teaching Strategies , a professional development company for early childhood educators. She has taught young children, managed a childcare center, and worked in state government, consistently striving to promote self-esteem and a positive cultural identity in both children and educators. Nicol Russell started hearing about race when she was a little girl. Her parents were from two different backgrounds and made sure she was proud of...
Oct 23, 2024•24 min
Wouldn’t it be great to play games for a living? That’s a big part of John Sessler’s job for PBS Kids. He tells Early Risers host Dianne Haulcy the work is fun, but not simple. PBS Kids content is required to meet learning goals while also expanding what children know about race and culture. PBS Kids starts with diverse teams of content creators and ends with children as active and curious consumers of media. Guest: John Sessler is Director of Professional Learning for Ready To Learn at PBS Kids...
Oct 09, 2024•23 min
Media companies like Cartoon Network consult Dr. Kira Banks to help ensure they portray diverse families accurately and respectfully. When Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, Dr. Banks and her family had just moved to nearby St. Louis. The psychology professor was teaching her two young sons to be proud of their African American heritage. After the crisis, she doubled down on her commitment to change the narrative kids hear about race. She says the work starts with the stor...
Sep 25, 2024•23 min
What if you COULD tell a book by its cover? What if the pictures and design were as important as the words? That’s the idea behind Megan Dowd Lambert’s “Whole Book Approach” to reading. As a mother to five children of color and two white children, Dowd Lambert promotes reading “with a race-conscious lens.” As a professional storyteller, she explains why it’s important to read with children, and not just to them. Episode Resources: Megan Dowd Lambert’s website Books inspired by Megan Dowd Lambert...
Sep 11, 2024•29 min
“Racial identity” refers to a person’s understanding of different racial identities, one’s preferences for a particular racial identity and how identities are ranked in their family, their society and in their own mind. Toni Sturdivant has spent her career developing a library of books and a collection of teaching ideas for the early childhood classroom that will help young children establish a positive racial identity. In this episode, she talks about her work and her particular focus on boosti...
Mar 20, 2024•27 min
One of the hardest parts of teaching is managing the classroom to promote learning, keep order and inspire students. Many approaches to classroom management are punitive and reproachful. Reddy describes a different approach that–at its core– celebrates students and gives them opportunities to practice their identities. Guest: Shawn Prakash Reddy was an elementary school teacher in Chicago public schools for nearly ten years. He is now Associate Director of Teacher Development at National Louis U...
Mar 06, 2024•22 min
Structural racism is different than interpersonal racism. It is the set of policies and practices that put BIPOC communities at a disadvantage from the earliest stages of life. So how can we work in our early childhood communities to identify structural racism and make change so that young people - BIPOC and white - are no longer harmed by structural racism? Jen Neitzel shares examples from her work in communities across the United States. Guest: Jen Neitzel is the executive director of the Educ...
Feb 21, 2024•20 min
Theressa Lenear was practicing anti-bias education long before it was widely known as an approach to early learning. As a young Black teacher in Alaska, she tapped into her intuition to guide her practices with young children. She created a classroom-wide deep respect for her students’ cultures. She shares her perspectives on how to support BIPOC children in underserved communities. Guest: Theressa Lenear is an early childhood education instructor at Goddard College. She has worked with young ch...
Feb 07, 2024•26 min
Many programs that offer innovation in education ask teachers to adopt a new curriculum or implement a new procedure in their classroom. But when it comes to anti-bias work, Veronica Reynoso says there is no new curriculum. Instead, you need to be in community with children and disrupt the biases and stereotypes they pick up from the world. She explains how she does this and how the children respond. Guest : Veronica Reynoso is an early childhood teacher and mentor teacher at Hilltop Children’s ...
Jan 24, 2024•29 min
If we adults want to work with young children on issues related to race and racism, we first need to work with ourselves. Marie Lister describes the learning communities she facilitates with teachers to help them become aware of, and address, their own biases. She discusses how the work adults do in these communal learning spaces can benefit young children immeasurably for years to come. Episode Resources: Marie coaches early childhood teachers through the nonprofit Before Racism Discussion Guid...
Jan 10, 2024•28 min
In this episode, Dianne is joined by Dr. Richard Lee, a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Asian American Studies program at the University of Minnesota. Together, they explore some of the parenting stories featured in season four of Early Risers. Dianne and Dr. Lee also share valuable insights to help parents discuss race and racism with the young children in their lives. Early Risers Season 4 Episodes 4-6 Discussion Guide https://files.apmcdn.org/production/e079d17c73189...
Jun 14, 2023•29 min
In this episode of Early Risers, we delve into the parenting journey of Ayan Omar, a Somali American mother living in St. Cloud, Minnesota with her husband and two young daughters. As an interracial and interfaith couple, Ayan and her husband have faced unique challenges in raising their children. In this conversation with host Dianne, Ayan shares her experiences navigating conversations about race and racism with her daughters, and how her own upbringing in a predominantly Black community has i...
May 31, 2023•27 min
Cecilia Amadou is a Ghanaian mother raising her son in the Fargo-Moorhead area of Minnesota. In this episode of Early Risers, Cecilia shares her experiences navigating parenthood and conversations about race and racism in a community that is over 90% white. As Black parents with roots in Africa, Cecilia and her husband offer a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities of raising a child in a predominantly white environment. Early Risers Season 4 Episodes 4-6 Discussion Guide https:/...
May 17, 2023•24 min
In this episode of Early Risers, host Dianne speaks with Acacia Ward, a young Black and biracial single mother of three living in Rochester, Minnesota. Acacia shares her experiences growing up in a predominantly white community and how she's navigating conversations about race and identity with her children. As a mother of a son with a Sudanese father, Acacia offers insights on how she and her co-parent are helping their child appreciate his cultural heritage. This episode offers a candid and th...
May 03, 2023•19 min
In this episode of Early Risers, Dianne speaks with Kai and James Miller, a married couple raising their two daughters in Rochester, Minnesota. Kai and James share their experiences as Black parents in a growing city that's becoming more racially diverse. Despite the demographic changes, the Millers have struggled with feeling isolated while working to ensure their daughters see positive representations of themselves in school and the community. Even with these challenges, Kai and James are taki...
Apr 19, 2023•28 min
In this episode of Early Risers, Dianne speaks with Ellen Guettler, a white parent raising her two boys in Minneapolis. Ellen shares her journey of practicing anti-racist parenting in community with other white parents. Growing up, Ellen attended integrated public schools in St. Paul during the 1990s. She remembers feeling tensions around race and racism but never had the opportunity to talk about these issues with adults. Now, as a parent, Ellen is committed to navigating these conversations wi...
Mar 22, 2023•25 min
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is an award-winning historian who is known for his best-selling books on antiracism. But a few years ago, he also started writing books for very young children, including a new book “Magnolia Flower,” which he adapted from a short story written by Zora Neale Hurston. In this special episode of Early Risers, Dr. Kendi reflects on his personal journey as a parent and children’s book author, including how children’s books can teach children about cultivating love as a tool for re...
Nov 30, 2022•25 min
How do children learn about race or racism? Is it ever too early to start talking to them about it? What kinds of conversations should we be having with young children about these issues? In this special episode of Early Risers, host Dianne Haulcy revisits highlights from some of her past interviews with educators, psychologists, children’s book authors, brain researchers, therapists, and others. Together these experts offer insights, practical tools, and guidance for raising children with an un...
Aug 10, 2022•48 min
When it comes to a child’s healthy development, the role of a family pediatrician can’t be underestimated. In recent years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health officials have identified racism as a serious public health threat. So how can pediatricians help parents and caregivers address issues of race and racism? Dr. Nathan Chomilo is a practicing general pediatrician as well as a leading voice around health equity, both in Minnesota and on the national level. He des...
Jul 27, 2022•34 min
Babies are like little scientists. They come into the world with a natural ability to notice patterns and form connections. By the time a child is two years old, research shows that they are already noticing racial differences. Dr. Charisse Pickron is an assistant professor and director of the Child Brain and Perception Lab at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. She investigates how babies and toddlers start to learn about race, including why humans may have evolved to ...
Jul 13, 2022•33 min
As parents and caregivers, we need to be intentional about helping children–especially children of color–develop a strong foundation of positive self-esteem and ego strength. This protects them from internalizing racist messages and helps them to build a positive racial identity. Research studies show that having a positive racial and ethnic identity is associated with higher resilience and problem-solving skills. But where should parents and caregivers begin? Guest: Dr. Aisha White directs a pr...
Jun 29, 2022•25 min
What should we say when a young child expresses or experiences racial bias? Maybe it’s when a child makes a comment about somebody’s skin color being ‘too dark’ or how they don’t want to play with a child of a different race. Or maybe it’s when a child has experienced racial bullying or some other kind of racialized incident in the classroom. As adults, we may find ourselves reacting or freezing up in these moments. A healthier response is to prepare what early childhood education professor and ...
Jun 15, 2022•33 min
