Diversity is different. Every family is different. As such, diversity in your family can come from many different places. There are many different types of family dynamics, influenced by things like tradition, culture, demographics, and family size. Every family has different traditions and they can also greatly depend on where a family is from or the experiences that they have had. Simply put, every family is diversely different in its own way.

With every family being diverse in their own way, it comes to reason that no two families have the same ways for handling situations. Diversity within families, rather than between them, can generate a set of unique challenges. Diverse families that may face these challenges include situations where children are raised by grandparents, an incarcerated parent, a parent whose race they have no association with, having two mothers, and so forth. Children who are raised with a gender-expansive or a LGBTQ family member, regardless of the child’s identity, are still impacted by non-inclusive environments. Similarly, many of your family members could be from different places around the world and have different backgrounds. These are all ways in which any family can be diverse and different from others.

Diverse families tend to face more challenges for no other reason than being non-traditional. Children of different-race couples tend to suffer from more bullying and harassment, leading to psychological stress. In an article from npr.org, over 100 biracial people described a similar feeling of cultural ambiguity. This sense of imposter syndrome tends to affect biracial people as they develop their own identity. To prevent this frustration, diversity in families must be embraced by traditional families and traditional culture.

Gender diversity in the family should also be embraced. To better foster a positive view of gender diversity for children, schools should incorporate programs that promote a comfortable setting to discuss gender related information. An article from Virtual Lab School lists several ways to better understand diversity within families and to promote gender diversity. The following are their suggestions:

• Recognize that views on and messages about gender affect all children and youth.
• Challenge binary or strictly “male/female” notions of gender.
• Normalize gender diversity.
• Question limited portrayals of gender.
• Support children’s and youths’ self-reflection.
• Teach empathy and respect.

Promoting the acceptance of diversity within the family leads to greater acceptance of diversity across different families. Diversity and inclusiveness on a large scale will have much greater success by starting within individual families.