Is there such a thing as teaching "too much" cultural diversity?

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Someone answered that most bio-families don't take the time to teach their children their culture.

I disagree - they teach their culture simply by replaying traditions that were passed down from parents, grandparents, extended family. Recipes are shared (often from the "old country"), holiday celebrations are repeated for generations, religious traditions are taught to the children. This is a very natural process in a bio-household - there is no need to make special efforts at sharing culture, it just happens.

This is another area where bio- and adoptive families are simply different. Adoptive families have to make special efforts to maintain their children's connection to their heritage. And this can backfire if it comes across as patronizing or phony....Show more

A question similar to this actually came up at one of our foster parent classes a couple of months ago. We had a pretty good mix of races and cultures at the class. There were a few Asians, some First Nations, Caucasians, one Hindu (individual) and one Muslim couple.

Other then the obvious religious holidays that people observed (Christmas, Diwali, Hanukka...) there was nobody who really "celebrated" anything else. They may have taken advantage of a free day off if it came with a particular day but that was about it.

One of the kitchen volunteers who came in to make lunch for the class was African Canadian and we asked her during the break about Kwanzaa. She said that she didn't see the point and that she knew of only one family that observed it and that most of her friends "didn't see the point".

Perhaps it's just a difference between the countries but as a group we don't seem to observe too many other holidays over and above the "standard" ones. As a family, since my oldest is East Indian, we tend to observe Diwali but it works out well since the lights just stay up a bit longer and it's Christmas. My daughters friends think it's "neat" but my daughter can actually take it or leave it. She's been in Canada since she was 3 and had been living with us in a "Canadian community" since she was 8 months old....Show more

I am african american and do not do any kwanzaa celebration. Personally i don't want to and i am not interested.
I am also part Puerto Rican and i make an effort to celebrate Puerto Rican holidays and traditions with my family because that is what i grew up with and that is what is important to me. Some of the days and traditions i had thrown to the wayside till I had kids now i am diligent in doing them.
Now with a pending adoption of our foster son on the horizon who is obviously African American but i don't know if there is any mixture because i have no family history i find myself torn. Puerto Rican things are not his heritage and we will continue to celebrate them because they are mine but he will be par taking in a false identity per say. Then again my wife who is AA par takes and has no issues but she is grown and made this choice to celerbarte these days with me. He will have no choice. We don't celerbrate Same for Juneteenth, Ancestor Honor Day either neither does any of her family my AA family or anyone we know. So if we start it will be odd and contrived and seem like we are forcing something. I guess if we were white it would be nothing. You just assume all AA do this and move on. If we adopted IA we would reasearch holidays food etc from their home and just do it suspecting they would do this in their home country but we have no idea.
I am babbling but i understand what you are saying and hope you get my point...Show more

Raising a bilingual/bicultural child I am of the bending-over-backwards school.
My English-speaking western culture is in the minority where we live so if I don`t make the effort my child will be missing half of her heritage. Today we went to an English speaking after-school group and I am organising a Christmas party and carol singing in English for Christmas Eve (I will also be cooking a full traditional Christmas dinner for my family). I also celebrate all my husband`s Japanese festivals.

It can be a real hassle. Not as soon as we have dragged out all the dolls for Girls day and put them away after the celebration dinner than I am organising everything for Easter......and so on........
It is worth it though....I really want my daughter to have a sense of who she is and the festivals are the easiest and most fun way for her to access that. She is also in touch with a number of friends her own age who share the same culture(s)...so she has more of a feeling of fitting in.

My Japanese MIL doesn`t make as much of an effort as me (though she does put on a great traditional New Year Lunch for us)....in a monocultural environment I guess she doesn`t feel the need to make as much effort. I think I also make more of an effort than my parents made.
As a mother of a child who won`t necessarily fit in to either of her cultures I suppose I want to make sure her sense of identity and belonging is firmly rooted. If making a lot of effort now can save her even a little bit of torment later then it`s worth it.


edit.....I have to admit that I even celebrate holidays that are not even Australian......I organised trick and treating in my neighbourhood (which we never do in Australia) and celebrated Thanksgiving (unheard of in Australia) with a friend.

Maybe I am taking it too far? lol...Show more

I don't think you can teach about it too much, because I feel like the more people know about and understand other cultures, the less intolerant people will be. I do wish my parents had taught me a little more about my own culture, but I do know that I hated that I was different when I was a kid and would have felt very alienated by too much immersion in my culture because that was what made me different from them. So I think there is a fine line you have to walk with this as so many other things....Show more