Tolerance and respect for others begins at home    

From the earliest age, a child absorbs and incorporates experiences and interactions with those around them, whether of warmth and kindness, or cruelty and harshness, and these are imprinted in the amygdala and other areas of the brain.

Nurturing
Loving emotional interactions help children develop a healthy sense of self that is not dependent upon absolutist tenets. Children with secure emotional lives can more easily learn to feel comfortable with the ambiguities and mysteries of life. As they mature, they are more able to explore difficult including defenses and blind spots, such as personal bias, prejudice, and assumptions.

Attunement
Parents who listen and respond with attunement help their children build emotional tools. This is reflected in the healthy wiring of areas of the brain related to empathy, moral-decision-making, and social awareness.

Parental Modeling
Parents who respect and appreciate ethnic and cultural differences help orient their children toward cross-cultural openness, instilling a lasting inoculate against xenophobia, bigotry, and nationalism.

A child’s observation of a parent’s reaction to situations is wired into learning and memory, whether or not the behavior is approved of within a specific religious or moral belief system. When our parents act with compassion and show respect toward others we see the concern in the orientation and expression of their eyes.
Picture