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This is an interesting question; I was born in and have almost all my family a country where I will most likely never be able to go back to, is it worth teaching my kids about it? Or is it just a waste of time since they will probably never meet that side of the family or have any contact with that country? But I think if you do have contact with that part of your family and your heritage is is not discriminated against I think it's great.
Last edited by George Brock; 01-30-2017 at 04:09 PM..
I would say it is worthwhile to teach them their heritage and to give them a good sense of Indentity and self worth.Alot of young people are easy targets for marketers and advertisers etc because they have such a poor sense of indentity.
We do it because it's fun, not because we place a lot of importance on it. My mom is only 2nd generation American, but they assimilated purposely (spoke english, etc) We got interested in Swedish traditions when we moved near an IKEA. We also talk about our British heritage, again, my daughter has been to England and Scotland twice, so we told her to look for her cousins (haha, that side of the family is like 15th generation american so our cousins would be distant!)
We don't preach any particular loyalty or anything.
Personally I made great efforts to teach my kids about their heritage. Did they care? Didn't seem like it at the time. Even twenty years later all they care about is the heritage they're creating.
Both sides of my family have been here since before the Revolution. I have done extensive genealogical research and they are interested now that they are adults, but not so much when they were younger.
My kids learned about their heritage through stories about their ancestors. Honestly, they aren't interested! Our family has been in the US for over 100 years.
Both my husband's family and mine date back to the Puritans, so there isn't much discussion of the "old world." That said, we have made an effort to ensure that our kids know family stories, and that they understand that their ancestors played a role in the defining events of American history, for better and for worse. Our family tree contains both heroes and villains; all contributed to who we are as individuals, as a family, and as a nation today. Is this education important? Yes, I think it is, if only because it gives us a peg on which to hang our knowledge. Learning about the Salem witch trials becomes more than just an intellectual exercise when you can point to people in your family tree, knowing that they participated.
I'm into geneology. I've talked about my family tree to some extent. I have one line that has a lot of wild stories like outlaws, feuds, hillbillies, moonshine, etc. We have several pictures of people holding guns. The kids just laugh. They know another line is from Luxembourg and Germany. The kids aren't really all that interested yet, but I'm working on a book for the extended family. I think the kids will get interested when they can read it.
This is an interesting question; I was born in and have almost all my family a country where I will most likely never be able to go back to, is it worth teaching my kids about it? Or is it just a waste of time since they will probably never meet that side of the family or have any contact with that country? But I think if you do have contact with that part of your family and your heritage is is not discriminated against I think it's great.
If they don't know where they come from, how will they know where they are going?
That's an old expression, but it makes sense.
They need to appreciate the journey their elders took and learn the hows and whys of the challenges and sacrifices made. Otherwise they just assume that everyone had it as easy as they do.
And how do you know they'll never have any contact with that country? Do they speak the language? That can be a marketable job skill. Or maybe they'll take an interest in their cultural heritage. If you cut them off now, they'll feel disconnected. Kids are interested in their parents' youth, and the fact that yours was significantly different will be extra enriching. Celebrate what is positive about your culture. Ritual and ceremony are important to human development.
I certainly appreciate that my grandfather's parents were dirt poor immigrants who came here from Scotland and Wales to work in the coal mines. My grandfather quit school and went into the mine at age 12, worked one day and said never again. He became a vice president of a major power utility. Likewise my grandmothers' parents...ran away from a wicked stepmother in Sweden and came here to farm...raised 10 kids in a two bedroom house. Their stories are not particularly unique/ But I'm glad I heard them!
Do you teach them about their ancestors and their traditions regularly,from the various countries they come from.
Or do you not bother?
Children should be taught to take pride both in their ancestral heritage and their existence as Americans. The latter trumps the former but both are important.
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