UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Children model their behavior after their parents and other adults in their lives. This means that they also adopt and reflect the mindsets and attitudes towards inclusivity that are displayed by these adults.

To help parents teach tolerance and acceptance to their children, Penn State's Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense, has developed an online portal for parents to access evidence-based information regarding inclusivity. This site — inclusivity.psu.edu — includes a video and toolkit to aid in having tough conversations with children, to teach them not only to tolerate diversity, but to accept and appreciate all human differences.

Jen DiNallo, director of research for the Clearinghouse, managed the development of the campaign and explained the resources created.

“We wanted the video to bring awareness to the need of teaching children about inclusivity, and our toolkit contains strategies for parents to use in real life situations to help their kids become more open-minded and accepting of their peers and others around them," said DiNallo.

Daniel F. Perkins, principal scientist and founder of the Clearinghouse, who provides scientific oversight to all Clearinghouse efforts, placed the inclusivity resources within the larger parenting effort being developed at the Clearinghouse.

“This parental resource is part of a much larger evidence-informed parent curriculum being developed at the Clearinghouse," said Perkins. "The inclusivity video and toolkit draws on the evidence that parents play a premier role in fostering tolerance and acceptance.”

Visit inclusivity.psu.edu to view the video and toolkit, or access this site through the Clearinghouse website, where this site and other resources may also be found.

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State is an applied research center within the Social Science Research Institute.