My Family Culture

Blog: My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

     If I was one of the few survivors of a major catastrophe that devastated the infrastructure of our country and I could take three things with me that represented my culture, to a  foreign land where I would be a refugee , I would choose to take an iPod filled with my favorite music, my Bible that was my Grandmothers, and the special  picture of all my family that includes all of my seven children when they were young and my Mom and Dad and brother.I would want to take music be cause the music that I grew up with really speaks to my soul , and I do not believe I could listen to these tunes in other parts of the world. I would take my Bible for it is old and precious to me and even though God is everywhere I might find it hard to replace my Grandmothers Bible due to its sentimental value. Lastly I could not bare to part with my special picture I created for an Early Childhood project of my family tree for it includes my whole family and precious memories. If I was told that I could only bring one thing with me I would have to choose my Bible assuming that my family was with me. The Bible could give me strength and hope in times of trouble and sorrow and it is something I could pass on to me children as a heirloom from their great Grandmother.
     I had to do a lot of soul searching to decide what was important to me to take  as a cultural representation of my culture. Through this process I discovered that culture is really internal rather  than external.I am my personal culture. I carry it with me in everything I do, say and feel.So when we are looking at peoples cultures,we must not   stereotype them,for  each person has an unique family culture. Culture emanates within them and expresses itself externally.We are Early Childhood providers must   take time to get to know our families,so we can get to know our children, and try to realize that culture is extremely personal, and varies from individual to individual.