GenParenting

Parenting resources for all who love and care for children

Preparing My Grandson for a Third Cultural Heritage Experience

Preparing My Grandson for a Third Cultural Heritage Experience

My grandson’s mom recently returned from an extended trip to the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. During Mom’s travels, Kenji’s dad relocated his business to Bangkok, Thailand. When I talk with my grandson about his mother’s recent trip and his dad’s business relocation, I realize that my grandson will be expanding his cultural heritage to another new country when he lives with his father in Bangkok. Our family will prepare for this new cultural experience by participating in the following activities:

  • Continue to talk with Mom about her recent trip to the Elephant Nature Park and view the pictures of his mom’s trip on Facebook.
  • Have Dad send Kenji pictures of his new cultural experiences in Bangkok and talk about these experiences during their FaceTime phone calls.
  • Meet with family friends to look at photos of trips to various sites in Thailand. During this visit, Kenji will also receive some historical postcards that he can use when he writes notes to his father. Kenji and his dad can talk about these postcard pictures during their FaceTime phone calls.

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Mom Is on a Trip

Mom Is on a Trip

While Kinji’s dad visited his son in the United States, his mom traveled to Thailand. When Kenji was with his father, he did not miss his mother because he was excited to spend this time with Dad and his relatives. Once I took care of my grandson at his home for four more days (beyond time spent with Dad?), Kenji commented that he missed his mom when playing because his mom was always there. I immediately acknowledged Kenji’s feelings about his mom’s absence. Through this encouragement, he returned to playing with his toys.

When mom was gone, we also talked with her on the phone. Initially, Kenji did not want to use the FaceTime feature when talking to his mom because he said it would make him sad. Eventually, Kenji decided to talk to his mom on FaceTime. During the conversation, he said it was hard to see his mom’s face and not be with her. After that phone call, we stayed busy until mom’s return with school and various outings. [Read more…]

Teaching and Parenting Middle Schoolers

Teaching and Parenting Middle Schoolers

Having taught middle schoolers for 10 years, I would say I had the privilege of experiencing and learning all about this this pre-adolescent age group even before my own children reached this stage in life. Whereas most parents would dread the middle-school-aged years, I have enjoyed and still relish my interactions with my own daughter, a 13-year-old middle-schooler. Here are some of the teaching and parenting principles that gave excellent perspective and insight for parenting my own children. [Read more…]

Wonderful Experiences with Dad Across the Miles

Wonderful Experiences with Dad Across the Miles

Although Kinji’s dad works in Japan, my grandson thinks his relationship with his father is quite normal when he shares extended time with his father in the United States or in Japan. Between visits, their close relationship is maintained through regular FaceTime phone calls throughout the week. Ongoing phone conversations focus on:

  • Their daily life activities and Kinji’s new Lego creations
  • My grandson’s exciting adventures at school
  • Kenji’s participation in various afterschool programs including Karate and swimming
  • Math discussions on prime numbers, multiplication, and how to identify number patterns

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Helping Our Children Manage Their Feelings

Helping Our Children Manage Their Feelings

I just survived another challenging Monday morning in the classroom. My second-grade students were scheduled to attend an educational assembly early Monday morning until a series of power outages forced the staff to cancel the assembly. Then we returned to our classroom after completing a few exercises.

We started our classroom activities by talking about feelings for the day. We listened to a guided mediation where two children have built sand castles on the beach. After a couple of hours, the ocean surf washes away the sand castles. One child is happy while the other child is sad. [Read more…]