Having friends from all walks of life helps our children be open to change, and diversity. Fostering multicultural friendships will provide for a firm foundation on which the child will grow into a non-biased adult global citizen.
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Read how these amazing mamas foster multicultural friendships in their children:
A year ago I started to interpret for our County Public Schools, that allows me to attend to a lot of parties, meetings and activities with just Latino community. My family comes along and they are learning so much not just from the culture but also from each family. Not to mention Spanish has become more normal in their vocabulary. It has truly been a blessing.” – Cecy, Spanglish House
Where we live there are few Asians. So I have to consciously make efforts to expose my daughter to other Asian kids, and this is done mainly by going to Chinese School on the weekends. During the week at school the default is that she will be exposed to the cultures of those in her classroom, mainly Hispanic and white. She is the only Asian girl in her class.” – Maria, Bicultural Mama
I attend a multicultural church and this year my two oldest have penpals from two different states and Europe.” – Kali, For the Love of Spanish
We have a membership to the Japan Society of Northern Ireland and attend events throughout the year. We exchange postcards with people around the world, and we’re looking for penpals for my children.” – Crystal, Castle View Academy
Simply put, I want my children to learn Spanish so they can become friends with children who speak Spanish.” -Laura, Mommy Maleta
I am working at a dual immersion school (Spanish-English) and the families are mostly Latino. A teacher friend of mine, who works in a “mostly white” area school, and myself are planning on doing penpals between her class and mine, with the final goal of meeting in person. I want my students to have authentic experiences from Spanish speaking countries, be able to blend/identify those experiences with their own life and, eventually notice that we are all important human beings trying to do better everyday.” – Carolina, La Clase de la Sra. Dufault
As a mom of two now very multicultural children, the term “global citizen” naturally sounded very attractive. Being in a foreign country gave my family opportunities to meet people of different nationalities, different races, and more importantly different cultures.” – Jackie, Bringing up the Parks
Friendships are out there for the taking, no matter the diversity of the individuals involved. Language barriers and land borders are no match for the quest for friendship.” Excerpt from All Done Monkey’s post on Diversity in the Classroom.
As a mother, nurturing multicultural friendships in children is as important as nurturing kindness and good manners. We live in a multicultural society; one that is only becoming more and more diverse and we need to prepare children for a culture of understanding that leads to peace and freedom.” Excerpt from Embracing Diversity Us.
Our children are the lucky ones though, being exposed to so many languages so early in life, and to so many different cultures. We like to celebrate Italian holidays together, but also each other’s native festivities too, so they get to learn not only the Italian way of life, but also see the difference in their friends’ family lives.” Excerpt from Bilingual Kidspot.
I want my children to be kind. Kindness can be gentleness, consideration for others or friendliness. When we first moved here, I loved when Pocho met my friends who had lived in other cultures. They were always so considerate of the massive effort it took for him to speak, make a joke, or navigate a social event. I’d like for my kids to be empathetic, not dismissive of people who are different, because they know so well that people are complex and full of stories they don’t know yet.” Excerpt from Spanish Mama.
One of the most important things we can teach our children is how to be a good friend. From making a friend at a new school to overcoming conflict in a friendship, from inter-generational friendships to friendships across racial divides.” Excerpt from Colours of Us
Diversity should not be “tolerated”, it should be celebrated!” – Hanna, Hanna Cheda
Every new city we move to, I try and put my kids in a school with as much cultural diversity as possible. We choose international schools geared towards locals, where the kids speak English but aren’t all expats. My kids have friends of all religions and cultural backgrounds, and I plan to make that an even wider net as we keep moving around the world.” – Orana, Crazy Little Family Adventure
Multicultural Friendship Recipe for Kids
Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a multicultural friendship recipe for kids, and adults, too? Pass it along, and the world would certainly be a better place don’t you agree? A world where we can accept each other’s individuality, and celebrate our differences.
How do you foster multicultural friendships in your children? Please tell me in the comments below, and don’t forget to share!
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Frances
Owner/Blogger at Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes
Frances Díaz Evans is a Latina Author, Educator, Multicultural and Language Advocate. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of the East in Puerto Rico and a master's degree in Spanish education from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.
She is the founder and writer of the multicultural, bilingual parenting website, Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes and Discovering Español (Discovering Spanish), a business dedicated to teaching Spanish online.
She can be found musing on her blog, Facebook and her favorite social media platform Instagram.
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Hola! This is one of the most beautiful posts I have ever read! (Growing up Bi-lingual Spanish and working with children….this post made my heart dance)
Thank you for sharing so important for all of our children to be exposed in the manner that the Mother’s above are doing. This is a clear example of our world looking brighter each day!! Gracias!!