https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 18 Apr 2026 21:23:16 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2240249 Sun, 19 Jul 2015 17:38:38 +0000 mrsjyw 2240249@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ds is 50% Korean, 25% each Polish and German. We don't really have ties to the German side, he'll hopefully be bilingual in English and Korean and most definitely exposed to a lot of Korean culture food, language, customs, Etc via me and my family. But he is definitely exposed to polish food and traditions too, albeit less so. he will likely identify as American! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239957 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 20:11:42 +0000 mrs.shinerbock 2239957@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MediaNaranja: I agree - and DH loves Utah since that was the first place he lived when he moved here. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239423 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:53:16 +0000 travelgirl1 2239423@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kids are English and Spanish but were born in Canada. Right now Canadian is all DD knows because she has lived here her whole life, but that will change when we move back to England. She has a mixed English/Canadian accent and lots of Spanish friends, so hears the language a lot. I imagine in a few years she will identify as English mainly, but get a lot of Spanish influence from FIL. We are going to try really hard to keep their Canadian identity alive though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239415 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:47:20 +0000 MediaNaranja 2239415@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs.shinerbock: I feel like you and I are kindred spirits, ha!</p> <p>I may be jumping the gun here a bit since we don't have kiddos yet (starting TTC at the end of the year), but I think about this a lot since DH and I grew up in very different cultures, and I hope that they will identify with both. I am an American Euro mutt (mostly Irish and Polish), but don't really identify with the culture beyond making a few special food items throughout the year. </p> <p>DH is from Ecuador, and though he hasn't explicitly said anything, I know that he'll want any future kiddos to understand where he comes from--and I do too! I lived in Ecuador for ~3 years and it's a big part of who I am, too. We already make a lot of Ecuadorian food, and we speak Spanish at home, so those things are covered, but I want to make sure they know the *why* of certain things. I have a feeling that most things will be based around food (figs in honey with cheese for Christmas dessert, guaguas de pan on Day of the Dead, fanesca during Holy week, etc). And I figure that by living in the US, that side of the culture will be absorbed automatically.</p> <p>As finances allow, we also want to make sure that we get to Ecuador at least once every 1-2 years so that all of us get face time with his side of the family, as they aren't so tech-savvy, and see/experience all the wonderful things there. Further down the line we'd LOVE to buy a house to vacation, and, if the proper job situation ever worked itself out--live. I guess we'd want to make sure that any children would be comfortable enough with the culture to make a smooth transition if that ever did happen--because it's always in the back of our minds. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239380 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:23:30 +0000 lamariniere 2239380@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think the comments about identifying with what you look like are interesting. I'm Caucasian/Asian and while to most people I definitely look more Asian, I don't identify as Asian at all. My dad is the Asian parent and, other than visiting his home country every few years, I was never exposed to his culture and he didn't make any effort to educate us. But that was also back in the day where the few immigrants in my home town just tried to assimilate and blend in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239376 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:20:38 +0000 farawayyama 2239376@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm Kiwi and my husband is American (midwest). Honestly, I think by virtue of living here, she will identify more with the US. I also think that as she gets older and we can foord to travel to NZ more often, she may develop more of a dual identity. She will be a dual citizen soon - we simply haven't gotten around to filing some paperwork. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239343 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:41:47 +0000 gingerbebe 2239343@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm Korean and my husband is Irish/English. His side in terms of culture is mostly just Midwestern American with a smattering of Irish pride. My family is full Korean immigrant with parents who never really learned to speak English and pretty much only hang out with other Korean Americans. Our son looks more Korean at the moment but he also has slightly lighter hair and super long lashes that every Korean pinpoints as "mixed baby."</p> <p>I think my son will probably identify a good part of himself as Korean because he's around my family more. He eats mostly Korean food, my mom and I speak Korean to him most of the day, he will go to Korean school, we play Korean nursery music at home. And we are planning to take him to Korea soon. But a lot of that is because my family really wants to be able to communicate with him. I know all of that will be outweighed by living in America and speaking English so I don't really expect him to identify as Korean more than his daddy's side. But it's definitely going to be there.</p> <p>I guess we are sorta laid back on culture and don't care quite as much because we are religious so it's more important to us that he identify as Christian than anything else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2239137 Fri, 17 Jul 2015 09:15:26 +0000 mrbee 2239137@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Raindrop: I used to look pretty Japanese, I think! Straight black hair, bowl cut, etc. My mom did most of the upbringing, so that's probably why I identified with that side of the family tree! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238958 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 23:13:08 +0000 daniellemybelle 2238958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In America, if you look black, you're black. No one would ever know that LO is 1/4 white and 1/4 Hispanic. She just looks black. So, to me, that part of her heritage dominates. But she will grow up knowing about her diverse heritage. I am very close to my family and they are white for the most part so I imagine she may identify with them on some level. Even though I am 1/2 Hispanic because I grew up with mostly white family, I identify with them quite a bit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238954 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 23:02:51 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2238954@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My daughter is a bout a quarter of four different ethnicities and I think will identify more with one or two of them just because those parts of the family are more "in touch" with their roots, I guess you could say. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238804 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:52:58 +0000 Raindrop 2238804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: Do you think you look more Japanese or more "American"?</p> <p>My husband is half Filipino and half Chinese. It feels like he doesn't really identify with either side but he is the lightest skinned of all his brothers and marry a Chinese person (me). His brothers happen to be darker skinned and for some reason identify with their Filipino side more and date Filipino women. </p> <p>Our kids definitely look more Chinese and my mother is helping me care for them so I think they will identify with their Chinese side more. </p> <p>So I wonder if you tend to just identify with what you look more closely to? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238777 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:17:44 +0000 YouGotMe 2238777@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO is 1/4 Portugeese and 1/4 Brazilian and 1/4 French Canadian so she will likely attend Portugeese school when she's 4 on Saturday's and French immersion school. </p> <p>She's very exposed to both cultures and I hope to be able to visit Brazil with her in the next few years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238679 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:34:23 +0000 travellingbee 2238679@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think as a mixed ethnicity person, myself, I mostly identified with the two cultures that I was most exposed to- no coincidence that they were the cultures of my two grandmothers who were immigrants. The other dashes of this and that didn't feel as significant. My DH is actually less mixed but only identifies as American. He is much farther removed from the immigrants who came here. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238671 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:28:05 +0000 looch 2238671@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I find this whole topic really fascinating, I was raised in the US by immigrant parents and I don't identify myself as Italian, or even Italian American. I am American, when someone asks me. It isn't at all that I am not proud of my ethnicity or my parents didn't attempt to expose me to their traditions, I kind of feel that the experience of growing up in the US made me unlike my cousins that grew up in Europe. To them, I am American.</p> <p>My son is mixed European ethnically, but since I am an AMCIT, so is he...would that even make him part American? Or is he all European? It's so fuzzy for me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238661 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:10:27 +0000 Andrea 2238661@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>They are mostly Chinese and German so we're emphasizing those. They will be learning both languages. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238598 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:42:09 +0000 mrs.shinerbock 2238598@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I usually refer to myself as American mutt because there is a lot of Western European with a dash here and there of other in my heritage, but no strong ties to any specific culture. LO is half American and half Colombian and we are raising her to know and appreciate both cultures. We live close to my family, so she gets a lot of exposure to my family traditions/culture, but we are lucky that we live in an area with a large Colombian population and have a lot of friends from there.</p> <p>We speak English and Spanish in the house, she Facetimes with DH's family several times a week (well, they talk and watch her while she eats/plays :silly: ), we participate in local Colombian events and Colombian traditions, and we travel to Colombia every year or so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238597 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:41:39 +0000 sunny 2238597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: I have the same issue. I speak some Cantonese, but the Chinese schools around here are Mandarin. I'm torn on whether or not I would send her since I won't be able to help at all.</p> <p>We will celebrate Chinese holidays with LO. Not sure if we will emphasize the European side of her heritage as much since that is up to DH and he doesn't really celebrate holidays himself! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238580 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:27:02 +0000 tofuwad 2238580@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What helped me growing up with mixed heritage were activities that are culturally specific. So we would celebrate New Years in a Japanese style, but also a fairly standard American holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. </p> <p>I think I'll try to do similar things. I'll mostly emphasize the Japanese aspects of their heritage with Japanese holidays and traditions, and my husband's German heritage with German traditions. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238540 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:00:32 +0000 lamariniere 2238540@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SproutBee: I agree with this idea as raising them as mixed culture. My children are 1/4 Chinese (from Thailand), 1/4 Caucasian American and 1/2 French. The tricky part is that we live in Austria, so they go to daycare here and are learning German. We always joke about which parts of them are French (the cheese and baguettes!)/American (my DS is so LOUD!)/Austrian (the sausages!). I'm really curious to see how they will identify when they are older. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238511 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:32:34 +0000 fancyfunction 2238511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>M is 50% Italian and 50% mix of European cultures. I grew up with Italian traditions that I plan to continue with out family. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238491 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:13:21 +0000 catlady 2238491@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Alivoo01: That's great that your son will hear both Cantonese and Mandarin. Unfortunately, I don't speak any Chinese at all. My dad made the conscious decision not to teach me or my brother since his version (toishan) is a weird dialect anyway and few people understand it. I did Cantonese school for a few years but didn't retain any of it. If we get LO into a Mandarin school though, DH and I will both try to learn some. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238422 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:32:59 +0000 SproutBee 2238422@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am mixed race (half Korean, half Polish-American), and my son is a quarter of the above things and half Irish-American. Honestly I'd like to raise him *as* multi-racial/multi-ethnic. I think it's important to realize that you are a sum of all your parts, and that all your parts are equally important in defining who you are. This comes from a life of dealing with my own personal ethnic confusion, and how I've come to see things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238415 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:30:36 +0000 Anagram 2238415@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our kiddos are/will be half white American and half Sri Lankan--LO is too young to identify as anything, but my husband definitely tries to emphasize the Sri Lankan part. I have a feeling she'll grow up just feeling "American" though, because we speak pretty much 99.9% english at home, and my husband never remembers Sri Lankan holidays until it's the day of, so we never do much to celebrate them. Whereas I plan all the American holidays way in advance (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, etc). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238414 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:30:23 +0000 plantains 2238414@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is hard. My DH is Japanese, Taiwanese and Polish and I am Nigerian but was born and raised in the UK. So far we have only taken her to the UK, but would love to get over to Japan while DH grandmother is still alive. I have considered Chinese or Japanese school for her, but my husband doesn't speak Mandarin so I can't decide if it is worth doing or not. </p> <p>Would love to get some ideas from people on this thread about how to honour all her cultures. We have given her both Nigerian and Chinese names so I suppose that is a start! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238412 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:30:08 +0000 Alivoo01 2238412@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: Do you speak Canto to your LO now? I do because that's primarily what my family speaks as well. We all speak Mandarin as well, but Canto is primary. Like you, I will eventually put DS into Chinese school where he'll learn Mandarin. I'm hoping he'll retain both dialects of Chinese. Guess we'll see since he learns words in Canto first, but once he learns the English equivalent, he says the word in English. He still comprehends Canto, but verbalizes English, unless he doesn't know the English word for it yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238405 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:25:29 +0000 MaryM 2238405@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think since our baby's parents will be different colors, it will be hard to emphasize one culture and neglect the other/s. </p> <p>My father's family was easy to identify with because he's second generation, so fully half italian and half irish. My mom's family has been in the US longer, so they weren't as tied to culture. But there is also some Irish in there so it was definitely the dominant culture growing up, but we still knew we were a quarter italian. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238385 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:07:35 +0000 erinpye 2238385@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Even through my girls are only 1/8 Japanese, it's emphasized a lot because we live closest to DH's family, and his grandma is the matriarch of the family and still has strong ties to her family in Japan. DH's dad was also born there. We were in Epcot last week and it sort of hit me when touring the Norway "country" and then the Japanese one, that I need to be better about teaching them about their Scandanavian roots as well. But, the ties aren't as strong on that side anymore. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238363 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:57:09 +0000 catlady 2238363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I try but it is hard. LO is one quarter Chinese (from me) and the rest is a large assortment of Western European. I grew up exposed to alot of celtic culture so I will probably introduce her to that (through music and festivals). My dad preserves some Chinese traditions so she will see that to some degree. We will probably try to travel to visit some of the places she's from (France, Germany, UK, etc) but other than that, we probably won't do much.</p> <p>The one thing I would love is to get LO into a school that teaches Chinese (there are a few in the area) but ironically she would learn Mandarin and my family speaks Cantonese. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238361 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:56:08 +0000 rachiecakes 2238361@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know!</p> <p>My mother's parents were English/German and Greek/German, so my mom was raised mostly German since both families spoke German.<br /> My dad's mother was Portuguese and his father was German/Scottish.<br /> So I guess I'm mostly German, certainly was raised with German foods and in a German church. But my Portuguese grandmother was very proud of her heritage, so I was always very aware I was Portuguese. </p> <p>My husband is Indonesian, both parents but had an Irish grandmother. </p> <p>Haha, my son's a whole mix of everything! I don't think he's alone in that though. I would think there are a lot of kids these days with all sorts of mixed backgrounds. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-your-kids-have-a-mixed-ethnic-background#post-2238348 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:34:00 +0000 mrbee 2238348@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>...do you emphasize all of the ethnicities in their background? Or focus on one that they can mostly identify with.</p> <p>For me, I'm half-Japanese and identified with that part of my heritage growing up. I'm also half German/Irish, but only discovered that because I mapped out my family tree when I was younger. My dad identified as mostly just American.</p> <p>My kids are half-Korean, quarter-Japanese and quarter-German/Irish. They didn't really identify with any one ethnicity until they started Korean school this Spring. Now they identify as mostly Korean.</p> <p>If your kids have a mixed ethnic background, do you emphasize all of the ethnicities in their background? </p>