COVINGTON — Parents who fail to teach their children to embrace differences are limiting their kids' ability to thrive in a multicultural world.

        “You can cripple your children if you don't train them to function in a multicultural society,” Joyce Ladner told about 750 people Saturday at the “For the Love of Kids” parent conference. “Exposure is indeed the greatest antidote to prejudice.”

        The third annual program, presented by Beech Acres, a child-focused family services agency based in Anderson Township, continues today at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

        For example, Ms. Ladner said children who do not embrace cultural differences and ethnic groups may not be able to relate to their teachers, bosses or even their parents.

        She encouraged parents to try to raise their children in non-segregated neighborhoods, enroll them in ethnically diverse schools and buy them ethnic dolls and books.

        “Do not leave it up to them to make the selection,” said Ms. Ladner, author of The Ties That Bind: Timeless Values for African-American Families and an authority on parenting, diversity and race relations.

        Ted Bishop of Independence, Ky., said he attended the daylong program with his wife, Lori, because “the way the world is going today, I want to give my family every tool possible to have a good life.”

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