Heritage
When you adopt a child internationally or transracially, one thing to consider is how to incorporate their heritage into their upbringing. Certainly there are no rules regarding this, and from family to family and child to child it will vary greatly.
For instance, I have a good friend who was adopted from Korea 28 years ago. She has a few ethnic items displayed around her house. Her parents offered to take her back to Korea to visit when she was a teenager, but she was not interested, and she still isn't. This is her country and her family here is what matters to her. She is now 29 years old and I guess her feelings could change later on, but I know her well and I doubt that will happen.
At four years old, The Boy is all hockey and Power Rangers. We have a beautiful hardbound book on Guatemala which he has never opened. He does love, however, the photo album we compiled for him from his pick up trip. We have some handcarved instruments from Guatemala displayed in his room which he doesn't play with, and some toys that he'll pick up occasionally. We serve tamales on Christmas Eve, which he won't eat. We have a pinata on his birthday which he loves. On Easter we sneak up on each other and smash brightly colored eggs filled with confetti on our heads.
It's got to be age appropriate and for now we just try to keep it fun.
We do plan to take him back to Guatemala to visit when he is older. I hope he wants to return to see the beautiful country where he was born.
Today is Day of the De@d in Guatem@la. It's a national holiday in which the people picnic at the gravesites of their loved ones, decorating the area with flowers and painting the tombstones bright colors.
Today is also the Kite Festival. The people paint these elaborate kites, and they write messages on the tail to be taken to those that have departed this earth when they fly the kite.
I think that's a lovely sentiment. When The Boy gets older, this is a part of his culture that I would like to share with him.
For instance, I have a good friend who was adopted from Korea 28 years ago. She has a few ethnic items displayed around her house. Her parents offered to take her back to Korea to visit when she was a teenager, but she was not interested, and she still isn't. This is her country and her family here is what matters to her. She is now 29 years old and I guess her feelings could change later on, but I know her well and I doubt that will happen.
At four years old, The Boy is all hockey and Power Rangers. We have a beautiful hardbound book on Guatemala which he has never opened. He does love, however, the photo album we compiled for him from his pick up trip. We have some handcarved instruments from Guatemala displayed in his room which he doesn't play with, and some toys that he'll pick up occasionally. We serve tamales on Christmas Eve, which he won't eat. We have a pinata on his birthday which he loves. On Easter we sneak up on each other and smash brightly colored eggs filled with confetti on our heads.
It's got to be age appropriate and for now we just try to keep it fun.
We do plan to take him back to Guatemala to visit when he is older. I hope he wants to return to see the beautiful country where he was born.
Today is Day of the De@d in Guatem@la. It's a national holiday in which the people picnic at the gravesites of their loved ones, decorating the area with flowers and painting the tombstones bright colors.
Today is also the Kite Festival. The people paint these elaborate kites, and they write messages on the tail to be taken to those that have departed this earth when they fly the kite.
I think that's a lovely sentiment. When The Boy gets older, this is a part of his culture that I would like to share with him.
posted by Well-heeled mom @ 11:21 AM
4 Comments:
At 3:06 PM,
DD said…
I think we all have an interest in our heritage to some degree. I would love to visit Ireland and Germany, but I think sometimes it's just because I would love to travel.
It's a great idea to have those items in The Boy's room. Someday they will trigger some great conversations between you.
At 3:36 PM,
hotdrwife said…
Heritage is so important! My cousin adopted her little boy from Korea almost three years ago. They do the same thing ... photo book, keepsakes. He asks them to tell the story of how far he flew around the world, and where they were waiting to take him to his new house. They also kept his given Korean name as a middle one.
I am adopted, but locally. I am sure my biological family had/have their own traditions. We celebrate our Adoption Anniversary each year (my brother and I have the same one, 4 years apart) and celebrate our biological parents, too.
And now, of course, my brother knows his!
At 5:12 PM,
[] said…
The Boy is very lucky to have parents like you and MFH.
At 11:20 AM,
Anonymous said…
I often wonder about sharing her heritage with M also. I also hope we can take her back to Guatemala when she is older.
Good post!
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