Raising Culturally Sensitive Children

The current political climate in our country continues to challenge families with how to teach their children about cultural sensitivity. Some children love having friends with different backgrounds and cultures. Others have little exposure playing with diverse populations of children. Still, other children are from families who are afraid of (or do not wish to interact with) other ethnic groups or cultures.

10 Considerations

Parents often ask us how they can raise culturally sensitive children. Summarized below are 10 considerations for parents wishing to raise children with empathy and respect for cultures other than their own:

Parents can model acceptance and appreciation by becoming friends with families from other cultures.
Parents should seek out social networks with interests common their children. These networks can be found by participating in team sports, performing arts, and through hobbies or clubs.
By sharing common interests with diverse community members, our children can become comfortable playing and working with people from cultures other than their own.
Parents must ensure that the groups they form or join are inclusive of all cultures, religions, and ages.
When families become active in community services for people in need, their children have the opportunity to develop empathy for those who are less fortunate.
Church communities can invite leaders of other faiths to speak to their congregations as part of an interfaith activities program.
Suburban schools can partner with inner city schools to share resources, community activities, and field trips. These partnerships can raise children’s social and cultural awareness of their community.
As various cultural communities form networks, they can learn that they share many similar values and needs because they are all human beings.
When talking with a friend or colleague who expresses elitist or cultural superiority, it is important to remind them that you are not comfortable with specific remarks. It is vital to set a clear expectation that all cultures are to be treated with respect.
When inviting a child from another culture to your home for dinner, it is helpful to provide a meal that is traditional to your culture. This will allow them to share a cultural experience with your family.

Respecting Different Cultures

As we consciously help our children become accepting of people from different cultures, our children will become “richer” human beings who have a sense of connection to people throughout the world.

Warm wishes,

Joyce

Cultural Awareness Summer Programs

As our children focus on the last days of the school year, parents are anxiously trying to secure adequate childcare and enrichment programs for their children once school is out. Some parents focus on sports camps, wilderness camps, and performing arts camp activities. Other parents use much of the summer for parks and recreational play dates. And other parents will focus on academic learning boot camps. It is important to balance your children’s summer play with a variety of activities to ensure that they have time to regroup and learn many new skills.

Experiencing Your Culture

Ideally, children will also have time to learn more about their culture and family’s values. Our family has participated in Japanese-American cultural camps throughout the years. These elementary school age summer programs vary in length and encourage the students to appreciate their Japanese heritage and take pride in their unique cultural background. Parents are encouraged to participate in every aspect of the program and share their talents with the children.

Through these programs, children gain an appreciation for the diversity of lifestyles that make up our society today (see www.suzumenogakko.org or www.medakanogakko.org for more information). Each area camp is different and may include some of the following activities:

Lessons in language, crafts, and music
Family life of Japanese Americans
Learning Japanese cooking and farming
Japanese gardening
Games, sports, and martial arts
Japanese-American history and relocation camps
Field trips to local businesses and public landmarks that may depict Japanese architecture
Guest assemblies, celebrations, and community service events

Reading About Your Culture

When considering the variety of cultural experiences shared in these camps, parents can read books to their children about cross-cultural perspectives. For example, we can help our children understand the relocation camp experience by reading Mei Ling in China City by Icy Smith. The book is based on events during World War II in Los Angeles China City. The story describes how a 12-year-old Chinese American girl named Mei Ling Lee loses her best friend, Yayeko Akiyama, to the Manzanar War Relocation Center. By corresponding through letters, the girls vividly describe their painful separation and their lives in China City and Manzanar. The story depicts these hardships and experiences with beautifully illustrated watercolor paintings.

Celebrate Your Culture

May your summer be filled with opportunities to celebrate your culture and your community’s diversity of lifestyles!

Joyce

Family Community Service

Children thrive when they have important roles and responsibilities in their home, school, and community. The holiday season is a perfect opportunity for children to create or support a program that serves the needs of various cultural communities around the world. Kids can develop empathy and respect for diverse cultural communities while supporting their schools and communities with their families. Many schools sponsor clothing drives, gift collections, food collections, and emergency support programs for those affected from natural disasters. As part of their learning, students can learn about another country and culture as they participate in a cultural experience of community service.

Partnerships with Schools

The Generational Parenting bloggers have partnered with the Santa Clara County Office of Education to provide culturally sensitive workshops to parents and families on parent communication topics, how to support your child’s school success, how to play while learning, what to do when your child is having trouble in school, and how to plan for college and careers. Through this partnership, students can provide community service to their schools. They can contact their school teacher about offering a workshop on a parenting topic that their parents would like to learn more about. The student can gain community service credits by organizing the workshop. They can work with interpreters, copy handouts, advertise the workshop, help parents register, and host the workshop. Afterwards, the student can meet with the teacher and parents. Students can discuss opportunities to support future workshops with parent/student leadership support.

Community Service Planning Worksheet

During this season of giving, brainstorm various community service activities that you can share with your family by completing the worksheet.

Happy community service!

Mary Ann

Community Service Worksheet for My Family

Review the various community services that you can share with your family. Check those that you would like to research and support through community service.

Type of Service	Check those you would like to research for support services.
Collecting money for disaster relief
Gathering clothes and food for those in need
Planting trees and cleaning a park, a school, or the beach
Adopting a school in need of computers
Serving meals at a homeless shelter
Visiting and performing for seniors
Making gifts for seniors, veterans, and those in need
Tutoring younger children or helping at the school
Helping a mother or babysitting for young children
Assisting at a daycare or nursery school
Working in an afterschool daycare program
Helping at a hospital or community service agency
Doing secretarial and computer work at agencies
Organizing and providing interpretation and translation services at a parent education workshop
Other:

Describe how you will provide these services. How will you learn more about a community service or need? What can each family member do to support this community service activity?

Have you ever volunteered for a social service agency, a church, at your school? What did you learn by volunteering? What leadership skills did you develop?

What did you learn when working with other cultures?

How can we help you develop a community service project for your family and community?

How Our Children Can Support Diverse Cultures

In this season of Thanksgiving, many of us meet with friends and family to celebrate our blessings. When reflecting on our culturally diverse friendships, the GenParenting bloggers have previously published blogs on how we can raise culturally sensitive children by modeling acceptance, sharing interests, participating in interfaith events, and partnering in community services and school activities. We have shared thoughtful experiences of how our children have shared their American culture with children from other countries. And we have celebrated various heritages at diversity events per the calendar of events at www.diversitycentral.com.

Questions for Consideration

As you plan for another Thanksgiving, consider the following questions that you can discuss with your family:

Consider your family’s experiences with diverse cultures:
- Have you organized playdates and meals with friends from other countries?
- Have you celebrated a special event or shared a cultural holiday together?
- What have you learned from these various activities?
- Have you invited friends from other cultures to your home to share their lives with you?
- Do you create art projects or cook food from other cultures?
- Do your read books and watch shows about other cultures and discuss what you have learned?
How do you learn about and share various cultures?
What museums, art exhibits, community fairs, churches, park activities, and school events can you participate in with your children to learn about another culture?
When considering your upcoming Thanksgiving celebration, how can you share other cultures at the family dinner?
What can you share about your culture with your family at Thanksgiving?
What culturally sensitive traditions have you created for your family? (i.e. collecting holiday decorations from various cultures, art, books, and sharing holiday dinners with friends from diverse cultures)
How does your family promote “equity for all” in your daily activities?
How do community groups support “equity for all” when sharing various cultural practices?
What are five primary values you can share with your family about other cultures?
How should education and community services support “equity for all”?

Building Cultural Sensitivity Awareness

May the peace and joy of sharing various cultures at Thanksgiving time expand your friendships and cultural sensitivity awareness.

Mary Ann

Talk About Cultural Sensitivity

During 4^th of July celebrations, we typically discuss the diversity and cultural sensitivity of our nation’s population. Through these discussions, I have learned:

“When people show you who they are, believe them” per Maya Angelou.
Be open to embrace other cultures.
We may not know a person’s cultural norms.
Listen and trust that a person does not mean ill will unless their actions speak differently.

For example, when a white person passes a black person at the office and does not say good morning, it is considered insulting and rude. It is important for a black person to understand the meaning behind this person’s behavior. The white person may not mean anything by her behavior and could be focused on completing a work deadline or errand. The white person may not realize that they have broken a cultural norm. When I am working in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Florida, my black colleagues will greet each other in this formal manner per their cultural norm.

When you want to confirm the intent behind an action, consider the following responses:

Tell me about that perspective.
Why is that important to you?
Would that be valuable to our society as a whole?
Have you considered the impact of that position?
Which local political decisions are impacting the economic conditions of the community?
Is there a more equitable solution for a community challenge or problem?

When we as a society fail to pay workers a livable wage, then we contribute to the ills of our society. This economic shortfall traditionally falls upon people of color. For me, education is the great equalizer for students to become future business owners, entrepreneurs, and decision makers. Through education, we can improve our community’s economy and bolster our democracy.

Happy 4^th of July!

Yvette