The world is such a big and wonderful place, but we can find ourselves sticking to our own corner of it. But when we do this, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that we are opening our eyes to what is out there. It’s something that we all need to do, not just for ourselves, but for our children too. When our teenage children end up sticking to their home environment and don’t even go out to play, this is when we’ve got to start thinking about opening our children’s eyes to the world around them. Whether you want to call it raising “a cultured child” or just giving them variety as the spice of life, what can we do to help our children and ourselves to open our eyes?

Book a Family Trip to Another Country

The perfect way to expose yourself to other cultures is to dive right in. Whether you are finding a rent house in Singapore or go on a road trip throughout the US, the greatest thing that we can do for our children is to expose them to a wide variety of cultures and languages, as well as customs, sights, sounds, and foods. All of these things that they are not used to can, in a way, seem like a sink or swim scenario. When you incorporate a diverse way of living into your vacation experiences, it’s natural that the children will want to stick to things that they know, but this is where the art of compromise is crucial. Even if you cannot afford to take your children to another country you can still take part in cultural experiences closer to home. Visiting ethnic neighborhoods near you is the perfect stepping stone.

Bring the World to You

If you want your children to learn another language or another culture, hosting an exchange student is the perfect way for everybody to be exposed to another culture. When you go through the process of applying to host foreign students the benefits for both sides are infinite. And even if you don’t want to bring over a student, you could still hire an au pair. Someone who is bilingual or is still learning the English language means that you are both taking steps to appreciate the other person’s culture.

Prioritize Learning a Second Language

If you don’t have the money to hire a professional tutor you can still find ways to help your child learn a second language. The great thing is that on YouTube there is an abundance of foreign-language cartoons. And it’s not just cartoons that you wouldn’t have heard of, pretty much every one of your child’s favorite cartoons has a foreign language version. And there are some fantastic ways for you to do it through Netflix. In fact, having a cartoon that is playing English audio with French subtitles can also fine-tune your ability to translate. Learning a second language isn’t easy if schools don’t provide the options but this is where you all need to work together as a family. If you are all working towards learning a language together you can all go at a snail’s pace, guaranteeing that nobody is left behind.

Volunteer

One of the simplest ways to make your child more culturally aware is to help them volunteer in various environments. You’ve got to exercise common sense, especially if you are all looking to volunteer in another country. But there are numerous kid-friendly volunteer opportunities. Volunteering isn’t just a way to expose yourself to other cultures; it can increase feelings of empathy. While we don’t want to be forceful and make our children understand the plights of others when we are working together as a family in this environment, it increases empathy but it also helps each member of the family understand what they have. In this respect, it is the perfect way for you all to grow together.

Learning to open our eyes to the world around us is something that we can all benefit from. And when we’re trying to teach other children how to do this, we have got to remember that it is crucial that we set the example as well. If our children see us living in a sheltered existence but we want them to be exposed to the big wide world, we’ve got to practice what we preach. When we open our eyes to the world around us there is so much we can learn and what we can benefit from as human beings.

Category: Mumbling Mommy

Tags: family travel