Some positives to being multicultural?

[RasJi7]

What are the positives of you and your partner's cultures that you hope to share or are already sharing with your Little Ones?

For my little one, his father is from the Caribbean. He knows all sorts of things about the ocean, his island, natural things about the earth and growing food. There is a lot of pride in education here and also in musical talents. Because we are in a british held territory our son will be able to go to college anywhere in the Caribbean and also the UK.

I am from America and birthed our son there so he will be able to go to college and/or settle there one day if he wishes. Being an American I can share customs of Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter. And I can't wait to share my love of the 'roadtrip' with him when he is older. My Mother and I once RV's from Rhode Island, south to North Carolina and then west to Arizona.

How about you? What are the positives of you and your partner's cultures that you hope to share or are already sharing with your Little Ones?

[cappuccinosmom]

Hmmm....

Ethiopia-
-a really neat national history. It's verfiably connected with Judaism and Christianity from the time of Christ. Historical evidence and cultural tradition takes it way back to the time of Solomon.
-a whole world of beautiful subcultures and tribal languages
-really, really, really great genes. :
-awesome music and art
-the skills and knowledge my husband gained from growing up there (survival, ingenuity, creativity, using what's at hand to fix or create, as well as agricultural knowledge)
-a very beautiful and fertile land. It's my hope that my children will see the day that Ethiopia rises out of it's third world status and becomes something great. Even better, I'd love to see some of them choosing to use their talents to help that become a reality.

America (me being a Euro-mutt)
-citizinship here and the benefits that carries
-European and American art and music history
-the educational and career opportunities available here which simply do not exist in dh's country.
-I used up all my brain power on the Ethiopian part, can't think of anymore right now.

[Haselnuss]

Just some very general things for the new baby (who is going to be German/American) - dual citizenship, being bilingual (we hope) without an accent in either language, overall broader perspective...
as for Germany itself, there are the holidays we don't celebrate (St. Nicolas' day, Karnival) in the US, those that are celebrated differently (New Year's), a whole lot of tasty "comfort food", roots that go way, way back (it was very exciting to visit an 800 year old church in Lippstadt and realize my DF's ancestors most likely went there when it was newly built!), awesome art & music history (not to mention the contributions to science & philosophy), different, multi-party political system - a counterpoint to the very dualistic and polarized situation in the US - free colleges, "greener" than the US - Germany is cool.
Plus the accent is adorable - our kids won't have it, but my SO and in-laws do, and it's just too cute (especially when someone says "somesing like zis".):
(Yeah, they laugh at me for mispronouncing things, so it's fair game. )

Oh, one more thing - non-circ'ing culture with twice the homebirths and all vaccines optional!

[aussiemum]

For us, one positive about our multicultural family is that the kids have been curious about the wider world from a very early age. They are interested in geography & distance & space & time because they have direct experience with it, from infancy. Over the years we have talked a lot about where people live, different countries & currencies, how long it takes to get there, who invented the aeroplane, etc. etc.

Also, we celebrate two sets of holidays. I like this I don't know that I could ever give up Halloween or Thanksgiving. It may be hot as all hell at the end of November, but we do have roast turkey & all the fixings for dinner! This year I really need to figure out how to cook it on the barbeque, as this will keep a lot of the heat out of the kitchen.

[Theia]

In our home:

DP is hindu but born/raised in Kenya. So he is an eclectic mix of culture already. So DD gets to learn about two cultures through him. He speaks hindi and swahili, but I think he is only speaking hindi to DD at this point. We celebrate his holidays and have a small temple in the home as well. India's culture is so rich, and even though the family isn't ready to accept myself and DD, at some point it will happen. I already dress DD with bindi's occasionally and next spring I'm going to dress her in salwar as well. We attend puja's and other India-related local events. I also know that Kenya will be a big part of DD's life since it is her father's homeland (he's never lived in india). At some point I am sure we will all live there, most likely Mombasa (DP YEARNS for this), so it would be really nice compared to Nairobi. I'm hoping to find some sort of routine of holidays and events that will be part of an annual calendar..... but what a mix!

And for the American side, well.... there are all the advantages and disadvantages of that. I am a mutt, Scottish-German-Native America, but I don't have any true cultural ties to any of those. I was raised on a Christian calendar, but I think I will go more with solstice/equinox type stuff, closer to what is called pagan, even though I don't consider myself to be practicing any one religion other than my own. But I don't want to get DD wrapped up in the consumerism and other things that american-christian holidays have been overcome by.

I think that in DD's case being part of a MC family is a huge advantage. Our biggest disadvantage at this point is that DP's family is not accepting of DD and I, we are unmarried with a child and I am older than him. Both of these things don't happen to 'good' indians. There is the possibility of that changing in the next year. His parents are applying for visa's to come to the US. OMG! :: Seriously. But other than that small issue : I think that DD will grow up with a very curious mind and also have a greater awareness of humanity rather than seeing the boundaries of race.