Heritage

I am pretty much a mutt, but do have a decent amount of Irish and Norwegian in me. I am proud to pass that on to my daughter. What I have done is to play detective and investigate myself and my family tree. I am also starting to do this for my SO. I want my dd to be proud of where she came from. We don't really "do" anything special, but I like to dress her up in something cute every St. Patrick's Day. Her first shirt said: The Leprechauns made me do it". I couldn't resist.
This country was built from a multitude of nationalities. That is why we are called the "Melting Pot". Hopefully one day we ALL will see every citizen of the United States as an American. <3

I think it's important to know their heritage but not to the extent that it trumps being an American. Sure I'm proud of my Irish, Scotch , British. But Being and American Trumps all of that.
I believe these " heritage months" that we have divide our country.

edited to add
I believe they divide us because we don't have a heritage month for every heritage. Until that happens we put an emphasis on these one or two heritages, we send the message that these are more important than the others.

Family recipes are probably the easiest way to preserve some of your heritage. Food and holiday traditions live on for a long time regardless of when your family arrived on US shores.
I'm not a big fan of the heritage months seeing as it's not likely we'll get a Polish/German/Russian heritage month anytime soon and singling out a few heritages out for particular notice seems like some kind of discrimination to me.
On one side of the family I've got ancestors who came over on the Mayflower. On another side we've got a photocopy of permission from the Kaiser for my Grandfathers family to leave their homeland. And on another side I'm a second generation American (my Grandmother was born in Scotland from Polish migrants who were working their way across as coal miners. Her next sister was born in England and the rest of the family was born in Pennsylvania.). Is there a time? Not particularly. They grow up eating family recipes and eventually they learn to make them on their own.

Read,read,read. I do not leave it to others to educate my children. I firmly believe if you dont know where you came from you dont know where your going. Every since my children have been able to read I taken them to bookstores and the public library. I require with every trip they select at least 1 book about our history.

Throughout their entire life they should be knowledgeable in their cultural. Its really sad to see someone ignorant of their own history.

I agree it is never too soon to tell them who they are. My husband grew up in a home where they really didn't talk about their background. (They have been in the US for a very long time) Last year my son had to do a school project on his cultural background and all he knew was Italian because my family is so new here that he couldn't help but know. When it came time for him to ask his dad his father had to ask his own parents. He was really upset to be in his 40's and not know what his heritage is. We went and researched his father's background and now make a point to share those cultural beliefs with our children as well. Yes in the US we are a melting pot but we should never melt so much that we forget who we are. Teach your children and embrace what makes them unique.

Its important to remember your heritage, but in America we have taken that to the point of discrimination. (Like "B" said.)

We need to celebrate our American heritage.

It used to be we hired the best person for the job. Now we can't hire the best person for the job. We have to hire the best woman, or the best indian, or the best mexican, or oriential, etc. And we are less of a competitor in the world market place because of it. We've had to dumb down our teaching in schools so everyone can do "equally" well.

Good luck to you and yours.

Wow, 8kidsdad always makes me shake my head.
My husband is Mexican and we do a lot of things to honor and learn about his culture. First of all, we are a two language household. I am a certified spanish interpreter and my boys both speak and understand spanish. I think that it is so important for them to be connected to their father's side in that aspect. Any time we call down to my husband's family they are always able to speak with their grandparents. When I went down and visited them I was also able to connect with ALL of my hubby's family.
We celebrate different holidays in our household or find areas in our city that are celebrating. For example, we do halloween and then we also do the Day of the Dead. We discuss "why" in Mexico they celbrate it and how it's celebrated. I have even made them "dead bread" to eat.
We celebrate Christmas, and also "dia de los reyes". We listen to spanish music, we dance salsa, we have spanish channels on our TV (cartoons and soccer!). We have not, nor will my children ever forget that they are American (shoot, I am!) but they will also not forget that they are 1/2 Mexican and THAT is something to be proud of as well.
(and when my children get a job I would hope to GOD that someone ignorant does not say that they got it because they are Mexican. They WILL get it because they are the BEST for the job)
L.

I can understand why people would want to do that.

Not all of us have "A" heritage though. I am a huge jumbled mess from both sides of my family...I can't choose just one ethnic background?!

I guess I always liked the thought of your cultural and ethnic background being honored in the little things you do...like the food you eat and the family traditions you have...stuff like that, where it's not a big thing that is celebrated one day of the year...more like everyday, in lots of things you do. Hope that makes sense.

I believe if we remember the past we honor our culture. For example us Americans. If we actually remember how this country came to be by the blood, sweat, and pain our soldiers went through, then that's us celebrating our cultural evolution. Remembering culture starts with history then comes where certain things grow from that specific event. If that makes sense.

i don't believe in celebrating culture we have indian months and black months and hispanic. I am full blood irish dutch and indian and dont celebrate indian culture. you don't see german holidays and japanese and vietnam holidays celebrated or their culture and probably never will due to wars. all races are people no matter their culture or background and saying anything less is pure racism. my sons have so many mixtures you cant teach it all my 2 boys have 8 diffrent cultures in them and 4 of them are diffrent due to diffrent dads.

FOOD. Haha. and Holidays. My husband is from Hong Kong, and I come from...a Caucasian Mutt background. (a little Alabama, a little Hollywood for the more recent family...and England, Wales, Scotland further back.) We cook Chinese food a LOT. We speak in Chinese at home whenever possible. And we celebrate every conceivable holiday we can find. The kids don't seem to mind. ;-) (Mine are 4 and nearly-2. We've been doing this all their lives, so nothing ever feels "weird." We also include my "white" family in as many of the Chinese celebrations as possible, so that the kids don't think it's an exclusive "us" thing.)

Right from birth... it is a way of living... the language, foods, stories you tell them, traditions, relatives, everything.. in daily life.
It is not specific to age or time... at each age, it is important... it is a foundation... of their lives... and who they are... and just growing up, with it.
My kids are bi-lingual, we speak to them in both languages from birth, explained their Ethnicity, we cook a variety of foods from many cultures, and incorporate both cultures in DAILY life.... our State has many cultural backgrounds... our kids grow up.... knowing their ethnicity and traditions...and with diversity and just having a world view of their and other cultures and ethnicity backgrounds.

A child's cultural/ethnic background... is important no matter what age... they just are... and grow up with that.

all the best,
Susan

"What do you do to honor your children's cultural and ethnic backgrounds?"

In as many ways as possible. We talk to our child about his heritage from both sides of the family. We show him pictures of his elders and tell him stories about them. We talk to him in English as well as other languages we speak. When he is old enough, we will expose him to the various cuisines, as well as family recipes. We will encourage him to study history and to honor his ancestors.

Around the house, we put up a mix of decorations that tell about our heritage. That's as much for our child as for us, his parents. It's for the whole family. We also do it to honor our departed loved ones.

It doesn't matter if you are from mixed stock. In this age, people travel, move and inter-marry so much that it's really common. All you have to do is know what your cultural background(s) are and learn to appreciate them all. That does not mean you disregard American values. If you live in a country whether as a citizen, immigrant, expat or refugee, you should honor that country, its laws and its heritage.

"Do you think there is a time of their life when this is more or less important?"

Yes. It's important! This needs no explanation. You can see it in families where culture and tradition are preserved. But again, taking pride in your heritage should not the same is trampling on American heritage (or wherever a person may live in).

I don't know about "heritage months." What would be better is to research holidays in your culture and what they mean. Then celebrate it with your family in a way that is meaningful to you.

We will encourage our kids to travel when they are older so they could see for themselves where their parents and elders from!

I won't comment on the other stuff because I don't think your question is about that.

Good luck!

We visit my family and family home town every two years. I would love for my daughter to know her fathers side, but it turned into a huge fight a year ago with me and her Grandfather. On the Grandmother's side, I have a small journal written by a Great Great Grandfather giving history from 1780 to 1850. As well, my daughter already has her Great Grandmother's tea set and Great Great Grandmother's jewelry.

While I love heritage, the Grandfather thinks I want information for selfish reasons. It is too bad for my daughter, but all things I can't change, as I will never ask again.