Culture, culture, culture. It’s everywhere. With the advent of the internet, there’s more of it to enjoy than ever. The days of us having a central unifying theme from family to family, or one television show most people watch are long behind us, as everyone gets to decide for themselves what they pay attention to and for how long.
This can lead us to a slight predicament as parents trying to do the right thing – what cultural education, exactly, should we give our children? Of course, there are no right answers here. Some decide to place religious faith at the core of their family unit, others choose not to. But it’s true that good foundational knowledge can help your little ones mature correctly and become respectful and at least tangentially aware of the differences other people may hold.
Share The Underpinnings Of Our Societal Values
Now, you can’t give a foundational education on everything that exists. It’s not as if you’ll teach the basics of how the internet works before they’re allowed to use their laptop for homework, of course, and this is the knowledge they’ll come to in time. But it can be helpful to share the stories that our societies run from, and there are many. For example, many of us just went through seasonal and religious-based festivities. Even if you’re not a religious family, sharing the meaning of Christmas and its history, or using kid’s Easter movies to showcase why they enjoy chocolate eggs every year is important. It helps them understand the substance, not only the surface.
Foster a Global Perspective
It’s healthy to take an overview of the different cultures you enjoy and give a condensed version of what they mean. For example, if you’re in the US, depending on the state in which you live, you may have more or less proximity to ancient native culture. You also have influences from the English, French, and Spanish traditions that have since culminated in location names, holidays, and cuisine. Even if you talk about the history of your Taco Tuesday nights and why Mexican cuisine is so delicious, you can help a child gain a wider perspective of the world they occupy and that they have a right to know about.
Address Stereotypes & Biases, But Still Celebrate
It’s important to help showcase our world to our children, but without reducing people to just their identifiers. In other words, teaching our children that people are very diverse, different and unique is important. But that doesn’t mean you can’t teach them about cultural touchstones that celebrate a given area of the world. For example, Indian people are in no way solely relegated to Diwali and tasty curries, but most will be proud of both of those things and for good reason. As you can see, offering a textured view while still showcasing the worth of culture and what areas of the world are known for can be informative, while still helping you avoid bias or stereotype.
Explore Cultural Arts & Music
From watching an episode of Doctor Who or heading to a Shakespeare show arranged for children, it can be nice to give your cultural direct access to cultural art and its implications. In this case, the example is British. But you might also showcase them bagpipes on YouTube for that Scottish flavor, or even consume content from further afield.
Cultural arts can be an inspiring place to get to grips with culture, while still learning as part of that. No one would ever say a live theatre show of the Lion King was all you needed to know about African wildlife, but for children, it can serve as a very healthy touchstone from which to understand and inspire further learning.
Moreover, art and music can help you bond like nothing else. It’s nice to share culture in this way, especially if you share a more textured cultural diet than simply whatever comes out of Hollywood.
Head To Your Museum!
Luckily, you don’t have to organize everything yourself. Many museums and public bodies curated for culture have very proactive early years educational programs, and getting involved can be a wonderful use of your time.
Heading to your local museum is not only fun, it can be thoroughly rewarding for all members of the family. It’s a great day out, and educators have spent time making this suitable for young minds to learn about the culture of your nation, be that through natural history, art, science and more.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to give your children the most favorable cultural education of all.
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