Raising a child of the world who remembers their roots

Blending the East and West Parenting Styles

As we prepare our children to face the ever shrinking world so that they not only survive but prosper, are we losing the ability to enthuse them with pride and respect for their roots? Do they even care about their culture? Or, are they more interested in fitting in with their friends? Many of our cultural traditions emerged from necessities of an age gone by, so is it possible to integrate them into our daily lives so our young people can choose to pass them onto future generations? Yes, definitely. With Y Generation we need to not only have these traditions in our lives but to take the time to explain and discuss them rather than saying, “Just do it.”

In our family we celebrate both Chinese and Western festivals. The kids think it’s great. They get Christmas presents, Lucky money at Chinese New Year (money in small red envelopes), Easter eggs and moon cakes. More importantly they get to know how these traditions came about. Do my children always agree with and happily follow the traditions of our mixed cultures? With two teenagers and one in the making, it’s a definite no. And they are very vocal about it which leads to some very interesting conversations. My husband and I, as with other couples, have some very different beliefs and traditions and quite honestly some of his drive me crazy. Jimmy’s belief in Feng Shui saw me reluctantly agreeing to swap our master bedroom with our 16 year old daughter last year as it would be “good” for us! Do I respect his right to practice his beliefs? Yes. Do I always agree them? No. I have learnt however, to find out why it’s important to him and look for ways that we can both keep our cultural identities. Our children benefit in many ways and though the use of the en suite bathroom all to herself is currently at the top of our daughter’s list, there are far more important benefits.

We cannot control what they will and will not follow but by being open, explaining what’s behind the traditions and making them as relevant as possible to today’s world, we have the opportunity of not only passing on respect for our cultures but also demonstrating respect for other people’s beliefs and traditions.

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