I am often asked what culture we follow in our family since my husband and I come from different backgrounds. I always reply – we have our own culture. It doesn’t mean we don’t adapt the heritage from our families and we completely ignore the wisdom and traditions that we grew up with. We simply try to take the best out of them and teach our children based on the previous generations’ experiences and learn through their own.
***
One of the things about my Russian heritage is cooking and eating. While I don’t really cook much of Russian food and I prefer making simple dishes for daily meals, I still enjoy the process of cooking and I also enjoy cooking for some special occasions, like Baha’i holidays, birthdays and just dinner parties we have from time to time at home. In Russia preparing the table for the special occasion is a huge process and we spend a couple of days making foods that we can freeze and later cook (e.g. stuffed vegetables, raviolis and dumplings, cutlets and more). If the special occasion is set for lunch, then we spend the evening before dicing and cooking. If for dinner – we spend the morning and most of the day to prepare our tables. We also leave time to dress up and decorate the house, set the table and it all creates a joyful anticipation.
With my children I hope to pass this wonderful tradition of valuing having meals together with family and friends, whether for special occasions or just on daily basis. My older one already helps me in the kitchen and she loves being given a responsibility of preparing food for the family. She also loves setting the table and before meals she comes to the kitchen asking what she could do to help me.
What about your own heritage? Are there some traditions or customs that you pass onto your children? Share with me – I’d love to hear about it!
***
Bringing up multicultural kids can be challenging at times. If you search, you will find that there are lots of moms and dads who blog/write about it.
We celebrate multiculturalism by Multicultural Kids Blogging Carniva featuring Teaching Heritage to Your Own Children, hosted by Frances of Discovering The World Through My Son’s Eyes.
Please stop by Frances’s blog on March 14th to read more about Teaching Heritage to Your Own Children!
Follow our Multucultural Kids Blogs on Facebook, Twitter (#multiculturalkids) and Pinterest.
