For many families created through
adoption, there is a mix of cultures, ethnicities and races. Coming from
different parts of the United States may offer as many opportunities to express
your family’s diversity as adopting from overseas. There are many ways you can use the current
and upcoming holidays to celebrate your family’s unique composition.
FOOD
Food from fasting to feasting, often
includes shared meals to mark events. As you mark the holidays, include your
child in planning and making foods. Use this time to also discuss where they
were born, their cultural background and foods eaten in their community of
birth.
- Make
cereal treats with sprinkles in the colors that reflect your and your child’s
cultural heritage.
- LGBTQ
families can use rainbow sprinkles.
- Find
a dish that represents your child’s heritage or pick a family favorite and
switch up the ingredient to meld traditions –
- Lasagna
can be layered with ethnic flavors.
- Chicken
soup can have additional flavors and spices.
- Pizza
can have toppings reflecting any cuisine.
- Rice
is a great base for spices, seasonings, herbs, meats, beans and more.
- Burritos
don’t just have to have Mexican fillings – use the concept and food and spices
of your choosing.
- Stews
(vegetarian or with meat) are a great base for any country or family tradition
recipe.
- Religious
holidays often include traditional foods
- Search
the web for the foods eaten in another country and include in your offerings.
- Make
two versions of a family favorite – your family’s traditional recipe and one of
another country or culture. Kreplach = Chinese Dumplings = Perogies, Matzah
balls = Mofongo = Falafel, Pastelles = Tamales = Knishes, Egg rolls = Burrito =
Tikka Wrap or Injera = Crepes = Pita.
CRAFTS
Children of all ages like arts and craft
activities and, luckily, most celebrations offer a chance to show off their creative
skills.
- Help
your child find an art project and display their creation in your home (even
adding it to your holiday table décor).
- Make
a dream catcher with the colors from your child’s birth country or place of
birth sports team
- A door wreath can include any colors and added decorations. The same cut-out hand
prints used to make turkeys for Thanksgiving, can be cut out in various colors
to reflect a country’s heritage or even multi colored to reflect the world.
- Macaroni
necklaces can also be made to reflect parts of the U.S., countries, ethnics and
races.
- Create
a family crest that includes everyone’s background or favorite food, activity,
color etc.
PARTY IDEAS
Celebrating holidays of your child’s
background is a great time to teach them and others about the significance of
values and traditions.
- Thanksgiving
is celebrated in various ways around the world: China: "Chung Chiu"
Moon Festival, Vietnam: Têt-Trung-Thu Festival, Brazil: Day of Thanksgivings.
- There
are harvest festivals in Africa, India and Korea.
- Kwanza
is celebrated by African American families and reflects the values of the
culture.
- Cinco
de Mayo is celebrated by Mexicans.
- Decorate
your home to include colors or items reflecting all family member’s
backgrounds.
- Make
and string garlands reflecting the colors of states, cultures or countries.
- Christmas has many opportunities to include all
cultures and traditions. Check out:
- Jewish
holidays involve food with variations across the world;
TEACH
Use this time to educate not only your
child, but others who visit you for the holidays. Discuss what your child would
like people to know and who will tell them (you or your child). A good place to
start is:
From there, you can identify a holiday
or observance and search for additional information on the internet.
Depending on my kids interests, over the
years, my family embraced some holidays and shied away from others based on their
curiosities and interests. With choosy eaters, we pretty much stuck to the
basics with their food choices but art projects were plentiful. Conversations
were ongoing and ranged from where they were born, how customs or celebrations
(including religious observances) may have been kept and how their life may
have been different if they were raised in the area of their birth.
Opportunities to discuss these topics
are abundant if you look for them. Enjoy your holidays and feel free to share
the heritage, foods and projects that define you and your family.
Kathy Ann Brodsky, LCSW is a New York and New Jersey licensed social worker, adoptive mom and advocate for ethical adoption practice. Through her private practice and agency affiliations, she has prepared thousands of adoption homestudies, counseled expectant, birth, pre/post adoptive parents and adopted persons, as well as trained professionals to work with adoptive families. She was Director of the Ametz Adoption Program of JCCA and a member of the Advisory Board for POV’s Adoption Series and the Adoption Advisory Board of Path2Parenthood, She is currently a Adoption Professional Advisory Council of HelpUSAdopt , a member of the Advisory Board of the Family Equality Council and active in the Adoptive Parents Committee in New York. Her blogs and written contributions can be seen throughout the Internet, including her BLOG and as Head Writer for ADOPTION.NET She was named an “Angel in Adoption” by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2001. You can reach her directly
