THE ABC OF PARENTHOOD – A CULTURAL FAMILY ACTIVITY

CREATE A CULTURAL FAMILY ACTIVITY RIGHT FROM HOME

Part of being a responsible parent is to teach our children about different cultures.  A good and easy way to do that is through a cultural activity with the whole family participating.  Why should you bother? Honestly, I hope I don’t actually have to answer that for you.  However, if I had to, I would let my college classmate Kerissa answer that for you.

WHERE DID THIS IDEA OF AN ACTIVITY COME FROM?

When Kerissa’s children were younger, she lost her job in the recession.  In order to keep positively motivated, she needed a solution to prevent herself from falling into complete boredom.

The idea of a cultural family activity started at her son’s 1^st birthday.  She wanted to celebrate her son’s life and started looking into their ancestors and family tree.  From there, she started showing and teaching her son where his family came from.

By the time her second son was born, she became more organized and started actually planning things out.  If you used to work fulltime, you will see that this type of activity can become out of control and a full-time job if you aren’t careful. Don’t let that happen!

WHAT IS A CULTURAL FAMILY ACTIVITY?

A cultural family activity is basically the learning of someone else’s culture through different activities such as cooking, music, movies, drawing, reading, sports, etc…  Basically, anything that would be different from something you are accustomed to.

WHERE TO START?

Pick your country

First and foremost, you need to pick a country you’d like to study along with its culture.  At first, you can start studying your own country.  Then, you can look at a country your ancestors came from or if you have friends living or traveling abroad you could study that country and ask them questions about it.  Finally, you could just spin the globe and see where your finger lands or decide to learn about a country that was on the news.

For example, Kerissa and her children studied the Republic of Malawi, a country in the southeastern part of Africa under Tanzania as someone in their lives was from there.  They also studied Yemen because it had been on the news and instead of being scared and fearful about that country, Kerissa decided to turn her children’s inquisitive minds towards something positive and learn something about it.

Research

Once the country of choice is locked in, it’s time for research!

There are different ways to go about doing your research.  Obviously, we are in the digital era, so you can start off with the Internet, but unless you have multiple computers, IPads, and whatnot, not everyone will be able to pitch in.

Another solution, which is a lot more fun, is to go to your local library or bookstore.  First of all, it forces you to get out of the house and can make for a fun family outing.  Second of all, everyone can look up things based on their own age group and also together.

Ideas of what could you lookup for your cultural family activity

What you can look up will depend on you and your children’s interest according to Kerissa.  But to start off, Kerissa recommends to just looking for books about the country you want to explore. 

From there, you can dig deeper and look up the weather, the country’s symbols and flag, a typical meal or traditional dish, an animal that you wouldn’t necessarily find in your own country.  The sky is the limit in terms of what you can look for and it will all depend on what you stumble upon.

How much time should you devote to your research?

According to Kerissa, you should keep your research time fluid.  It’s not a race and you are not on a schedule.  The amount of time you devote to researching a country for the cultural family activity will really depend on your children’s interests and what you find out.

Cultural Family Activity Ideas

Now that your research is done, it’s time for some fun family time.  If you can, create a list of the different activities you would like to do and plan it out.  It can be over a month or more depending on what you’ve come up with. 

For example, Kerissa found some great ideas and, they would always finish off their country’s theme with a family meal with dishes from the country they studied.  This is a great way for instance to expand your child’s taste buds and discover new foods.

Moreover, when deciding on the type of activities you’d like to do with your kids, try to pick ones that are age-appropriate with some learning skills that they can develop.

Music and Language

As an example, you could try to find online children’s songs in the language of the country you are exploring and learn it.  Moreover, when singing, it is always easier to pronounce than to speak it.  Perhaps, there is a traditional dance you could learn as well. 

Furthermore, learning some basic words such as hello, goodbye, please and thank you, could come in handy.  If you are a family that travels or when you encounter someone from another country, knowing basic polite words can really go a long way.

Flora and Fauna

Climate and natural surroundings aren’t the same everywhere.  Learning about the rainforest or typhoons can make for some interesting conversation.  Now that all children are aware of climate change, they can learn about its impact on natural habitats, different animal species, and plants.  Pick one that is particular to your country selection and learn more about it.

If your child finds a fun looking animal from a country, do a project about it.  When studying Australia, Kerissa made her son outline a full-size kangaroo and then himself to compare their heights.

A visit to a Botanical garden could be worth a visit in relation to keeping up with your country’s theme.

Arts and crafts

If you are a big fan of the Olympics like me, you will already know about flags and who they belong to.  Learning about a country’s flag can be a fun activity to do with kids. Depending on their age group, your child can learn many skills from it. 

Have them make a flag with paper and color it.  Learning to color and staying within the lines is not always easy, especially when they are little and also depending on the complexity of the flag. 

For instance, Kerissa used Japan as a stepping stone to study shapes.  They made a big red circle that they cut up in puzzle pieces to put them together to make a circle.  While studying Ireland, they made paper bows by alternating the different colors from the flag and creating a pattern. The idea was really to keep them busy while learning and having fun all at once.

Other examples

For China, Kerissa and her children studied the Chinese New Year and made paper lanterns and red envelopes.  While doing research, her children discovered that fireworks were invented in China.  They made a science experiment out of it.

Furthermore, you could also have your kids try out their calligraphy skills with some Irish or Japanese writing.

Food

Children usually love to eat, so this should be a fun activity.  For example, you can research food based on a holiday, such as Moon Pies for the Chinese New Year or a traditional Christmas meal from Germany.  While studying South Korea, Kerissa’s children read about Bibimbap, a very popular rice dish. 

As a result, they looked up the recipe and made it at the end to celebrate.  When studying Yemen, they had to get creative as it was hard at the time to find all the spices required for a dish.

You could also try out a local restaurant that serves dishes from the country you are studying.  Kerissa jokingly told me they tried out the Outback Steakhouse while studying Australia.  She had never been and probably would have never gone there if it hadn’t been for that activity.

Special meal

To celebrate all the research and learning about a country, Kerissa and her family would create a festive environment for the last meal decorated with flags and artwork and whatever else they had created along the way. 

While studying Japan, they learned how to make and roll sushi with their father and served them up as part of their last celebration meal.  Sometimes, the grand-parents and friends even tagged along for the last meal, sparking some great conversation.

Expos and Museums

If by chance there is an expo in town that talks about what you are researching, by all means, go!  It could be anything, from Egyptian mummies to Vincent Van Gogh. 

Museums are also a great place to go to learn about something new.  Only go there though as part of your cultural family activity after you have done your research and done a couple activities.  It will allow your kids to get a better perspective and appreciate it more.

Animal parks

On a side note, and even if I am not a fan of zoos, they make for a great place to go and see animals that you wouldn’t encounter normally in your neck of the woods. 

When your kids are small, it’s a great go-to place for learning and discovering. Of course, it is so much better to be able to see them in the wild, but traveling has somewhat become a luxury, especially when you are a family of 4. 

Otherwise, if your city has a natural history museum, you could check it out and look for animals that can be found in the country you are studying.

BENEFITS FROM A CULTURAL ACTIVITY

To this day, Kerissa’s children still talk about the time when they would do these types of activities.  They even wrote a song about Italy! However, it’s something that she did with them in preschool and kindergarten.  They stopped doing them on a regular basis because they got too busy with school activities.  They still managed to study between 20-30 countries (Kerissa lost count of the exact number).

Creating a cultural family activity allows you to teach your children about different cultures, diversity, geography, history, arts, etc.  Something they wouldn’t necessarily learn at school in depth.  Having good cultural knowledge makes for some well-rounded kids.  Kerissa only taught the good part of a culture for her kids to appreciate it.  So, they didn’t talk about wars or terrorism and whatnot, they’ll all about that in school.

If you are traveling or moving abroad, this type of activity can become very useful in order to prepare yourself mentally for the trip and also to know what to expect.

FINAL WORDS & RECOMMENDATIONS

When I asked Kerissa if she had found this type of activity to be helpful, she said yes.  It was not only beneficial to her but also to her kids.  It motivated her to do creative things with her children which were lacking at work (she was an architect and interior designer before becoming a stay at home mom).  She says it was a good catalyst for her family to get up and do things together. 

Her family grew and learned together and creating a cultural activity was a great project to do for the entire family.

Kerissa absolutely recommends this type of activity if you have time and interest.  However, she warns us moms to not pressure ourselves to overdo it and to not turn it into a job.  It happens to a lot of moms who used to work full time. 

This activity is for the entire family to enjoy and for the kids to take an active role in it.  Everyone needs to play a part in the research and planning for a cultural family activity.

This article was written in collaboration with my friend Kerissa through an interview I conducted through messenger.  Thank you for your time and inspiration Kerissa!