Teaching Consent: Centering Empathy, Diversity, and Loving Engagement in Early Childhood

During the 2021 Black Lives Matter at School week of action, Makai Kellogg and her three- and four- year-old students at School for Friends in Washington, D.C. talked about consent. Kellogg shared that by using the guiding principle of restorative justice, the kids helped their puppet make a different choice after jumping into a game without asking.

Kellogg read Don’t Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller, which addresses the Black Lives Matter guiding principles of empathy, diversity, loving engagement, collective value, Black women and unapologetically Black.

Students also practiced asking each other permission to play, touch hair, hug, tickle, and use toys.