26How Parents Can Help Their Children Be Culturally Aware
Raising children in today's multicultural world can be incredibly confusing, but I want to encourage parents to foster more curiosity and open-mindedness. This section covers ways parents can do just this. Don't just teach these concepts to your children. Practice them. Remember, your kids are watching you. Practice what you preach.
Encourage Regular Interaction with Other Cultures
This sounds simple enough but is not always done. I always encourage parents to start this as early as possible so as to develop the habit of not seeing difference as “less than.” Make efforts to go to places that usually have a good mix of people from different backgrounds, such as museums, festivals, events, and camps. When you take children to these kinds of locations, go a step further by also interacting with people there and asking people of other background open-ended questions about their cultures and languages. This communicates to children that you are okay with them meeting people from different backgrounds, a behavior they most likely will adopt.
I also encourage open dialogue here. Check in with children and engage in dialogue in order to hear their thoughts on what they have been exposed to.
Encourage Reading Diverse Books
The idea here is to read far and wide. When getting books for your kids, ensure that the authors are from multiple cultures. Authors usually write books based on their cultural frame of references and/or ...