1288天前
I think the whole notion of teaching multicultural manners to your children is a false one. It's one of those things where your children will model your behavior. If you expressed respect for other people, then your children will pick up on it. It doesn't matter what you say, they will know. If you have a neighbor and you're very friendly to that neighbor who's from a different background, and yet when they leave you say something very snide about them, the children will pick up on that hypocrisy. Now all my children have experienced growing up in this household which is very ecliptic as you can see behind me. But we've always had guests from different cultures. Whenever it's Thanksgiving I like to invite people who are not American, so that they can experience it too. And I think that my youngest daughter expressed it the best. She said that she considers herself a cultural chameleon, she can change and she can just fit in everywhere. And many, many years ago I was doing research for the Smithsonian, and so we were in Samoan households, we were in Armenian households, and she learned just by watching them and watching me. And it's nothing that I, you know if I sat down and read a rule book to her it would have meant nothing. But your children learn the most important things from you by the way in which you do them.