Revisiting Culture
It has been a week now that I got back from visiting my parents. It is always nice to spend quality time with family and friends back home. I especially enjoy the food and just hanging out with my mom in the kitchen. I like sharing with her about my kids and their development and how they are doing at whatever stage they are when we meet. It is amazing how we tend to rely in our moms when there are child development issues yet how many times did we said growing up, “I would never do that to my kids!” ha! Like mother like kids, I say now… and now that we have three generations of moms in our family, it is sweet to see them seek out my mom’s advise as well as mine or my sister’s.
“Titi, (aunty in Puerto Rican), how did you raise your kids with three cultures?”, I was asked by my one niece this one visit. She is the mother of a seven year old that is learning Spanish and English in school. “My daughter questions my interest in her knowing the American culture as well as her Latino heritage. It is hard to stay focused”, she said.
I tell her to tell her all the beautiful things she can think of about being part of two cultures: knowing about and respecting others, the food, the music, the art, and the clothes. I tell her to find books that celebrate two or more cultures and make them part of her bedtime story routine. I tell her to explain about the holidays and why in Puerto Rico we celebrate both. “The more the parent engages in the bicultural reality from the beginning, the easier it is for the children to accept it as normal and as part of their daily lives,” I said to her.
My other niece who is the mother of a nine months old and a baby on the way, was also interested. She wanted to know how I used the food to teach about the cultures. I told her that I established a family tradition early on, as soon as the kids were able to eat solids. During the week, we had Puerto Rican Nite, Greek Nite and American Nite. To this day, that means that three times a week I cook a meal from whatever culture we have decided on that nite. Rice and beans is a staple on the nite we eat Puerto Rican food. Lamb and veggies is very Greek and turkey burgers and fries is pretty American. Depending on the nite and the country, we talk about other typical things of that culture at the dinner table. Of course, Mexican nite and Italian nite are also favorites at our house and we follow the same rules. Learning other cultures through the food is a fun way to enjoy the cultural journey.
