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Who am I? Why am I here? We’ve all contemplated those deep questions as adults but have you ever stopped to think about the fact that your kids may have the same questions? In this interview with Aditi Wardhan Singh, we talk about how to raise kids with a solid sense of self-identity.
In case you don’t have time to watch it all now, pin this for later and read the quick summary so you know what’s waiting for you 🙂 or subscribe to the podcast version by searching for Families Embracing Diversity wherever you listen to podcasts.
Who is Aditi?
For those of you that haven’t meet Aditi yet, she is a best selling, award-winning author of the book Strong Roots Have No Fear. She is also about to come out with a new children’s book at the end of January.
Aditi is an Indian woman who grew up in Kuwait. While raising her family in the US, her kids begin to have some push back about their own cultural identity.
These experiences made her realize that we need a platform for all of us to talk about issues of raising multicultural kids, teaching multiple languages, etc. so she created Raising World Children.
She also grew up always feeling out of place and asking for translations. She realized that her mentality was not like all the people around her because she could not identify with just one people group.
However, she still had a sense of not belonging she was never confused about who she was.
How Can We Raise Kids With a Strong Sense of Self-Identity?
- Start with a strong core value system. Begin with raising quality human beings.
- Have intentional conversations about every important decision, interaction, experience. Help your kids find the lesson inside life’s everyday moments.
- Celebrate the holidays from all aspects of your culture and other cultures. (If you’d like to learn more about Indian culture, be sure to listen to the full interview!)
- Explain the meaning behind the festivals and holidays.
- Eat foods from your culture and other cultures.
- For bi-cultural children, you are not half and half, you are completely Indian AND American.
- Help children learn to deal with conflict and use their voices.
- Show children that everyone is equal and everyone has equal rights by treating the people you come into contact with equally.
- Read a lot of books. If you are looking for recommendations, check out the best books for children about race.
- Give your children opportunities to interact with people from different walks of life.
If you are looking for more information about how to raise kids with a strong sense of self-identity, be sure to check out Aditi’s book, Strong Roots Have No Fear.
Or the Sparkle Me Series Children’s Books: