Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin. Or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

When Adam Goodes appeared on Play School this week, so too did the racist comments.

“Who gave the gorilla a toy?” asked one non-fan.

Fox Footy shared an article about the Swans player making his debut on the children’s show to celebrate their 50 year anniversary, and the racist comments flooded in on their Facebook page.

The comments weren’t surprising.

There has always been a divided debate on the booing scandal which apparently was just football related and not at all to do with racism. But it seems Goodes gets the same treatment both on and off the field. The indigenous player has received racism when he was in a David Jones campaign and now for appearing on a much-loved children’s television program.

As parents, we want to be a good example to our kids. We want them to accept others so they too are accepted. We want our kids to embrace diversity and accept those that are different to themselves. So why aren’t more adults setting the benchmark on racism?

It’s not ok to make fun of those that are a different race, colour or religion.

If we want racism to be erased from society, maybe we need to take a note from how children see the world. They don’t see colour and discriminate because of it unless they are taught to do so.

What are we teaching our kids if we turn off the TV because a black man is presenting the show or if we call the black presenter an animal?

It’s not right and it’s got to stop.

How do you teach your kids to be accepting of others? How can we stop racism from spreading?