[shoshanna]

I would like to find out from those of you who have adopted transracially or transculturally, what do you do to help your child learn about his/her culture? What are some good resources for learning about the actual culture - not just the stuff you find in travel books?

[btr8898]

We adopted our son from the Philippines about a year & a half ago. He was 23 months when we brought him home. We didn't place a lot of emphasis on his culture in the beginning because we spent the first year just working on becoming a family. We are now trying to bring a little bit of the Filipino culture to our daily lives. I want our son to feel comfortable with the culture rather than just reading about it or going to the occasional festival. Here are some things we are planning to do and/or have started doing:

• Finding a Filipino doctor
• Filipino friends
• Cooking native foods
• Including some Filipino holidays in our lives
• A little Asian decor in our house
• Teaching all of us Tagalog - our son's native language

We also have friends that live in the Philippines. They are mssionaries from our church. When our son gets a little older, we plan to visit there.
All of this has recently become a little more complicated though. We now have 2 Latino foster children in our home. So Spanish has become more prevalent than Tagalog. But that's good too. The more cultures we can be comfortable with, the better!

[shoshanna]

I appreciate your reply. Mostly, our problem is that we don't know anyone who is from Guatemala. There are lots of people in Texas who are of hispanic and of Mexican decent, but not from Guatemala. We do intend to make sure that Erick has hispanic friends, but what if we can't find any Guatemalan friends?

[mcmama]

You may not find specifically Guatemalan people, but you probably can locate some central american people. Texas has a lot of Mexicans, and that is a different culture, but it is hispanic for a start. I think as you make friends with hispanic people, you will find many people come from different places, or have connections to people from different places.

TV is another help. With cable and satellite, you can access many pan-hispanic programs which will give you some ideas, help with the language, and are just plain fun.

I have a friend whose husband is Cuban, and they watch Sabado Gigante a lot. They like the feature called "la camera viajara" where Don Francisco takes you all over latin america.

You won't work this out all at once, but I have no doubt that you will be able to link Eric with his culture and heritage.

[HappyMomAnna]

I have not adopted internationally but, do know several families who have. I feel it is best for our children to know and honor their heritage but, I don't think it is as important to find Guatemalan friends as it is to understand the culture and history.

A funny story: My ex husband was adopted as a new born into a Scottish family--VERY Scottish....So Scottish in fact, I had to basically beg my husband NOT to wear a Kilt (Skirt) to our wedding Our son has about the most Scottish name a human could be given and our lives were filled with all sorts of Scottish food, trips and culture up the Wa-zoo....Tartans, flags, coats of arms....there was even talk of bag pipes! ANYWAY--THE FUNNY Part is that last May he found his birth parents and WE Learned that our children are at least 1/4 American Indian! Who would have EVER Guessed?!

Today, our children are in college and they have been having the time of their lives researching their Tribe and learning about their family heritage. At Christmas my kids went to a party with ALL of their fathers Biological family and met everyone. They told me a story that just cracked me up.....during some conversation my ex's birthfather made a joke about them being the "Scottish" side of the family!

I actually, found this to be an interesting remark and one that makes me want to meet my kid's biological family even more! I thought it was kind of an honor and cute to give my ex-husband and my children the Right to Keep the heritage they all grew up with.....

Fact is none of them have one drop of Scottish blood in them....But, they are all Scottish by adoption....no one needs to change last names or give up the Kilts and bag pipes....but, it has been fun to learn the other part of who they are. And I haven't even discussed the Irish side of the family--or the Germans who snuck into the woodwork along the way---If they were actually German because some family rumors say they may have actually been Jewish....

I guess that is why I just try to be American.... I think that a large number of us are pretty much a bunch of things.

I plan to teach my children about all the history of both sides of the family...and what we know about their biological families..... Just the same way that I love being Irish yet had to actually do my own research to find out where and how I became Irish....

I think the key is to instill PRIDE about our children's heritage....some kids will be more interested then others and a lot of the things we teach our children is in response to the interest they actually have. Exposure to culture, art, music and history from our native origin is great and sparks interest in learning about our history...But, some kids will care less and show little interest--other children will drink it up....