1st generation Americans

[Avniel]

I was listening to some reggae, and I thought about taking my family to jamaica. I spent summers there and it taught me how to appreciate my life and blessings living in a third world condition for a 3 months every summer. I think it did have negative affects on me, I am not very sensitive and I have trouble seeing the point in things that aren't about survival.

However I was wondering how important is it for your children and even spouse to understand where you come from historically and where you get your ideals?

Stories, opinions and thoughts all welcomed.

 

[ValleyGal]

Great topic!

I'm not first generation, but when I went for training for work a couple of years ago, I went to a very "English" place and became interested in my English heritage. Aside from enjoying "afternoon tea", though, there really isn't much I enjoy about it. Most of the traditional English food sounds truly unpalatable. I've never really had the same level of interest in my Swedish/Hungarian side, though.

I do think cultural heritage is very important, though. My son is 50% First Nation, and he has never had access to his cultural heritage. Even if he had any connection with his father, he would not have connection, since his father was part of the 60's scoop. I do believe it's had a significant impact on him, especially when he was going through his adolescent "identity crisis." I also used to work with First Nations people, and have seen first-hand the impact of having Eurocentric settlers try to annihilate First Nation culture. Drastic implications, truly, even all these years later. Just as significant were the residential schools, where removing children from reserves and forcing white culture on them resulted in several generations who have no idea how to parent their children (I'm speaking in very general terms, since it obviously does not apply to all of them).

If you can afford to give your family annual trips back to your country of origin, it might be a great thing for you, to give you a feeling of connection to "home" as well as for your children, to ground them in their cultural and racial roots. I think it would definitely add to their confidence in who they are when they go through their own adolescent "identity crisis."

*End note - my son has had access to a little First Nation culture where we live, although it is not his own band. Some of the practices are common, so I believe it helped.

 

[Hetta]

I'm not first generation and we do acknowledge all of the bloodlines (??) that make this family what it is. Our children are first generation and consider themselves American, but they also know we are 'different'. We travel quite a lot and they have observed different cultures, but I notice they are more and more American as they get older, which is a little sad to me.

I would absolutely visit Jamaica, but maybe when the kids are older and can appreciate it and understand the difference.

 

[Wren]

My husband is Chinese, so I guess that would make my son first generation American on his side. (My side goes all the way back to William Penn, so not completely first generation.) He's only 13 and a half months old, but when he's old enough, we plan to enroll him in Chinese school. It starts at pre-school age and teaches Chinese culture, including Mandarin. Plus we'll be taking him to China every couple of years or so (depending on finances and other things). My husband is from a small city and I think it will definitely give him an appreciation of the privileges he has being born and raised in this country (such as my MIL and everyone else, including restaurants, not having heat in the winter and wearing winter coats indoors or the lack of toilets).

 

[Hetta]

Henrietta, I think that's wonderful. I agree that children should always be familiar with both parents culture. I hope that your son does get to learn Chinese - that would be a great advantage for him. Do you speak any Chinese? (Just curious because I understand it's very hard to learn!)

 

[Wren]

No and it is indeed hard to learn. I only know a few words/phrases. And my in-laws don't know English, which makes for interesting times with them.

 

[Autumnleaf]

My family is interested in learning about our history. My father has a book about it.

 

[Niffer]

I'm first generation Canadian on my Dad's side and 2nd on my Mum's.

My Oma (grandma on my mum's side) is german, she fled at 18 to england during WWII, married my Opa (a Jew) and together came to Canada.
I have most of her history, everything from where her farms were (now Poland) to history of her brothers in the german militia.
I went there in 2006 - it was an amazing trip!

My Dad is Hungarian Romany, so his family history has been a LOT harder (almost impossible) to track down.
He came over from Budapest when he was 3 - he still has that monster of an inoculation scar on his arm from when he landed in Canada.
He told me a lot about Hungary and his family, how his Dad had made a break from his gypsy ties to be more 'respectable' and stories about family members being persecuted in WWII.

So yeah, my history is very important to me.
It's this weird mix of german food, british etiquette, and hungarian fairy tales.

Pretty interesting.

Hubby's family is all French Canadian/First Nations, so I know he has quite a bit of interesting history as well.

It's important to know where you came from, and your heritage I think.

~ Niffer

 

[Inkachu]

Well, my ideals stem from my faith and the way I was raised, not from any ancestry or cultural heritage.

My parents were/are both very close-lipped about their pasts and their families, for the most part. We also lived very far away (across the country) from their relatives, so I've still never met the majority of my own relatives, which hurts me to this day. I have a very strong desire for family connections, and it's just never happened.

I am very envious of people with large, loving families. Sigh.

I know what my ethnic heritage is, and I'd love to know more about my ancestors, but with all the non-knowledge given to me from my parents, I think I'd hit a dead end pretty quickly.

 

[peckaboo]

I'm first generation British - I was born in Nepal to a Canadian father and Indian/Portuguese mother and lived there for 8 years before we moved to the UK.
My husband has American parents but was born and raised in the Maldives until he was 11, then emigrated to the UK.
We don't yet have any kids but if/when we do have them I couldn't imagine not taking them overseas for a few years to expand their worldview a little. I also think it's important for children to learn their parents' language - I hope to bring ours up speaking Nepali - as so much cultural knowledge is encoded within a language.

 

[Avniel]

Great topic!

I'm not first generation, but when I went for training for work a couple of years ago, I went to a very "English" place and became interested in my English heritage. Aside from enjoying "afternoon tea", though, there really isn't much I enjoy about it. Most of the traditional English food sounds truly unpalatable. I've never really had the same level of interest in my Swedish/Hungarian side, though.

I do think cultural heritage is very important, though. My son is 50% First Nation, and he has never had access to his cultural heritage. Even if he had any connection with his father, he would not have connection, since his father was part of the 60's scoop. I do believe it's had a significant impact on him, especially when he was going through his adolescent "identity crisis." I also used to work with First Nations people, and have seen first-hand the impact of having Eurocentric settlers try to annihilate First Nation culture. Drastic implications, truly, even all these years later. Just as significant were the residential schools, where removing children from reserves and forcing white culture on them resulted in several generations who have no idea how to parent their children (I'm speaking in very general terms, since it obviously does not apply to all of them).

If you can afford to give your family annual trips back to your country of origin, it might be a great thing for you, to give you a feeling of connection to "home" as well as for your children, to ground them in their cultural and racial roots. I think it would definitely add to their confidence in who they are when they go through their own adolescent "identity crisis."

*End note - my son has had access to a little First Nation culture where we live, although it is not his own band. Some of the practices are common, so I believe it helped.

I never really thought about identity. You know what was funny about my youth, I never needed to find myself, I always kind of knew who I was, what I wanted to be, what college I would go to, what law school, what was right or wrong. I guess growing up in the family I did I was always alone and it was better then to have attention so I began enjoying being in myself. I think traveling just widened my thoughts not to think micro but macro. Me knowing how to speak patwa/patios, knowing how to cook the food just in general being a part of the culture was a definite part of that early grounding in my identity. Although I was alone in a sense I still felt like I was apart of something....

I think there was some very good points. I think traveling for children makes them more open minded but yet and still grounded on their principles. I agree with you that exposure to their own culture is as important as exposing them to others.

You know how the bible says "my people perish due to lack of knowledge," I often wonder if that includes knowledge of self.