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Multicultural Kid Blogs

For families and educators raising world citizens, through arts, activities, crafts, food, language, and love.

12 Ways To Help A Child Learn About Culture

September 5, 2016 by Nikita Gupta

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Learning About Culture

“Culture is everything from the food, drink, language, and clothing that a specific group of people wear.”

Our biracial (African-American and Indian-American) 2.5-year-old daughter absolutely loves the cartoon, Max and Ruby. The other day when we were watching it, the character Ruby, in her somewhat all-knowing and assertive big sister delight, remarked, “Max, culture is everything from the food, drink, language, and clothing that a specific group of people wear.” Max, in response, dutifully looked at 7-year-old Ruby with a nod of approval. In the most simplistic of terms, Ruby gave her 3-year-old brother insight into culture.

Since becoming a parent it has become a joint effort for my husband and I to ensure we teach our daughter about her rich multicultural heritage and culture in general. How do we plan to do this? Here are 12 ways we plan to help our child learn about culture.

12 Ways to Help A Child Learn About Culture

Learning About Culture

    1. Traveling. Traveling with a child/children can be laborious and expensive depending on the destination; however, it provides an investment into your child’s future. Traveling opens up a child’s mind to the world and other cultures outside of his or her own. Since her birth, our daughter has already logged over 55,000 miles in a car and about 100,000 miles aboard airplanes. She has traveled to Ireland, London, Canada, and India where she met our extended Indian family.
    2. Books and educational software. These are both wonderful aids in teaching a child about a specific culture or cultures.  Some books and educational software we have enjoyed so far include Children Around the World, My First Hindi Words, Global Babies, and 3 Curious Monkeys.
    3. Attending cultural events and festivities. We live in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, and as an example, I subscribe to an Indian Magazine called Saathee. Monthly we receive a magazine in the mail that showcases different cultural events both locally and statewide.
    4. Making the cuisine of a certain culture and letting your child try it. We make both Indian food and American food in our home and allow our daughter to help, too. Thus far she loves Chicken Tikka Masala, Coconut Burfi, Grilled Indian Chicken Kababs, Vegetable Biryani, Chicken Fried Rice, Chicken Nuggets, and Pizza.Learning About Culture
    5. Going to museums.  African Americans have such a delicate and deep history in the U.S. In our hometown, we are less than 30 minutes from the Harvey Gantt, African-American museum which celebrates African-American history. In addition, when we visit my parents in Chicago, Illinois, we are minutes from the Indo-American Heritage Museum and The Art Museum.
    6. Visiting cultural sites. Cultural sites provide a “feel” for cultural experiences that bind a group of people together. In North Carolina, we are an hour and a half from historic markers for the Underground Railroad in Greensboro, North Carolina. Furthermore, when we visit my husband’s parents in Michigan we are approximately 45 minutes from the Dr. Nathan Thomas House (a physical site for the Underground Railroad). As parents, we look forward to sharing and explaining the significance of these historic markers and cultural sites to our daughter.
    7. Watching culture-related movies, TV shows, and videos. We are fortunate to have resources like the internet and cable to watch Bollywood videos in Hindi and English as well as African-American movies. We also find resources in general programming like the Olympics which showcase talent and cultures spanning the world.
    8. Listening to music. Bhangra is a big part of our daughter’s Indian heritage, and from the moment we let her hear the music she started to dance like a Bhangra natural. We plan to also expose her to other types of music to aid in her global cultural knowledge of music.
    9. Wearing the clothing tied to a certain culture. We let our daughter wear Indian clothing around the house when she wants to as well as wear American clothing. This way she will be comfortable wearing the garments and will understand how they are supposed to be worn.
    10. Helping your child make friends with children of other cultures. Our daughter instinctively does this on her own and has friends of many different cultures. We believe it is important for her to have friends from an array of cultures to give her a broader perspective of the world in which we live.
    11. Learning the language. Learning the language of another culture helps kids be in tune to learn about that specific culture. We are currently helping our daughter learn English, Spanish, and Hindi (her paternal family’s native tongue).
    12. Spending time with family. It seems our daughter effortlessly learns more about both her Indian and African-American culture by spending time with her grandparents and our extended family. Her Grandparents, in particular, are enthusiastic about passing down their culture, cultural knowledge, and history.

Do you have other ways you have used to help your child or children learn about culture? Tell us in the comments below.

 

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Nikita Gupta

Creator and CEO at Growing Up Gupta
Hi, I'm Nikita Gupta! I'm a Business Executive (MBA) who became a SAHM, author, serial entrepreneur, writer and blogger. The multicultural lifestyle blog, Growing Up Gupta is dedicated to discussing interracial/intercultural dating and marriage, multicultural parenting, food recipes, culture and much much more! Yahoo Allyship Partner. Co-creator of the first America Black History box for kids, www.inkidz.com. Find my books at Amazon!
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Latest posts by Nikita Gupta (see all)

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Filed Under: Global Learning for Kids, Learning About Culture Tagged With: culture, global learning for kids, learning about culture

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Comments

  1. Mama Monkey says

    September 6, 2016 at 11:43 pm

    Great article! We try doing all these things, too! And…We really should to check the ‘3 Curious Monkeys’ books!

    • Nikita Gupta says

      October 13, 2018 at 4:59 pm

      Hi, thanks for writing! Yes you should check out the 3 Curious Monkey books too!

  2. Quinjeta Dhir says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:01 am

    Hello, I really enjoyed this blog post. I too am an African American woman married to an Indian man. You touched on so many spots I needed to see this, this morning.

    • Nikita Gupta says

      October 13, 2018 at 4:58 pm

      Hi and thank you! So glad to connect with other multicultural families!

Trackbacks

  1. Teaching a child about Diwali says:
    October 4, 2016 at 11:12 pm

    […] I had reached out to a company by the name of Festive Roots after seeing that they provide Indian festival and holiday trunks for kids.  Their trunks are intended to aid parents, teachers, and those interested in helping their children learn more about Indian culture do so with ease.  And as many of you know, we have struggled to find resources that can help us teach our biracial daughter more about her Indian culture.  Both of our extended families live hundreds of miles away from us and my husband travels extensively for work during the week.  As a result, I’ve taken on the  role of Mrs. Mom& Dad during the week and this includes making sure that our daughter is immersed in both cultures.  […]

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