Do you know that culture is a treasure? Perhaps in my own viewpoint anyways, but it says a lot about how much I hold my culture in high esteem. You know, I saw a video of an African parent with her children living in the UK, and that video challenged me a lot as a parent. The children were born and brought up in the UK, and yet they were fluently speaking their mother tongue, which is the Igbo language, as they hail from the eastern part of Nigeria—their root. They could dance to our cultural songs with their unique cultural attire they wore in the video. I was totally challenged!
My boys in their cultural attire
What's my excuse for not passing my culture to my children, especially the beautiful part of my cultures? What's your own excuse? Is it modernization or laziness? Or perhaps an "I don't care attitude?" Whatever, but I hope we challenge ourselves today to be more intentional when it comes to passing down our cultures to our children. It's something worth being proud of; seeing my children respond to me in our dialect brings so much joy to my heart. See, wherever you reside should never be an excuse not to pass down your culture to your children, especially the beautiful part of your culture, but sadly, most of us living in the cities find it cumbersome to teach our children our cultures. We allow modernization to eat deep inside them without a mix of our culture. That's not a good balance.
In this era where modernization has taken over our world, we shouldn't be carried away. My children must know where they came from; it's a must to know their roots and feel a sense of belonging. Our culture is our identity , a practice that shows who we are, and as much as I hold my culture in high esteem, there are ones I would love to pass down to my children, but obviously not all, especially negative ones, which I personally do not practice.
Our beautiful culture of respect, food, greetings, language, names, traditional attire, and songs is worth passing down to my children. Already, my kids bear our traditional names with unique meaning. Oh yes, that's their identity. I'm not into only English names at all, including the ones we don't even know the meaning of, lol. Talk of cultural wear—they dress that way whenever necessary, and I make sure to let them know what they are wearing and why it's important. Respect for the elders? Oh…what a great culture I have. Family values, marriage rites, etc...all these are important cultural practices I am already passing down to my children. Good enough, lots of schools nowadays have embraced cultural practices and kept encouraging parents to key in.
Our traditional food is one thing I hold so dearly, and even if I find myself in the United Kingdom tomorrow, I will keep preparing it for my family. What's culture without our unique food? When I prepare achicha, my friends will say, Oh, she is from Igbo. That's beautiful, and I am proud of it, and passing them to my kids is without negotiation.
How Much of Your Culture Should You Pass to Your Own Children? Let me know in the comment section.
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