Sharing Cultural Traditions and Family Values Did you know that children love to hear stories? Storytelling is a fantastic way to share with your child, memories about your childhood, and talk about special family moments together. Stories are ways to keep your culture alive! Talk about your family traditions and how these experiences affect who we are. They would love to hear those fascinating stories you heard from your parents or grandparents.
Support and engage your child to share his favorite story or to use his imagination to create new stories. They will enjoy in telling the story!
It is also fun to pull out your family photo albums to share moments and retell stories and just laugh. As an activity:
- Use art to draw figures on paper to illustrate his family or
- Make sock puppets for each member of the family or
- Play dress up to reflect your cultural heritage
- Invite grandparents or other relatives to share their stories
This will stimulate his desire to know how we all came to be in “this family” and how he fits in this amazing family! You will agree that these are some fun way of nurturing bonding through sharing family times and strengthening your family values.
Values especially of a traditional or conservative kind which are held to promote the sound functioning of the family and to strengthen the fabric of society." Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of family values
Most values are formed during childhood. Under the influence of parents, extended family members and teachers, the child picks up a sense of what is right and wrong, good and bad. As a child matures and has experiences outside, he may recognize other values.
Know that as your child’s parents, you have a remarkable and powerful influence in his life. Make everyday count!!!
Some other activities to cultivate your child’s growth in values are:
- Find teachable moments and set a good example.
- Enjoy, as a family, good books that teach strong values.
- Include others with like values to model expected behavior.
- Turn off the TV, radio and iPods and read with your child.
During the holiday celebrations, teach him to be open minded, regarding some multicultural traditions; explain and teach him about cultural differences. For example:
- Hanukkah—“The Festival of Lights”— lighting the Menorah
- Christmas—lighting the Advent candles
- Kwanzaa—lighting of seven candles