My Family Culture

This week's assignment:  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.  What would you take?  How would you feel if upon arrival you were told you had to give up two of the items?  What are any insights gained as a result of this exercise?

The three items I would take that represent our family culture are:  a Bible, a scrapbook, and a SMART phone.  The Bible obviously represents my families beliefs and values.   I also keep things to remember loved ones in my Bible...cards, pictures, etc. of special occasions.   I use the Bible to guide my daily living.  When I have a dilemma, I look for the answer within it.  I have often found it not only helpful but also a comfort during all the different times of my life.   The second item I would take is a scrapbook.  The scrapbook contains memories and information about things that our family has enjoyed doing from swimming to taking vacations and the things we do everyday life.   Our family culture revolves around spending time together and being with one another.  The third item is a cell phone because it represents the connection to others from the use of facebook to reading about current happenings on the internet and music that is a part of our everyday lives. Everyone in my family loves music...from Gospel to Top 40 hits.  But most importantly, the cell phone represents my connection to others through the phone and also through social media.  I talk with other members of my family daily and share stories with friends and family using facebook.

If I had to give up two of the items...my bible and the connection with family and friends would be the hardest to give up. I would probably keep however my cellphone because I could access on online Bible and also have photos and memories that I have stored on it.  That is if the other culture has internet access...  If it is completely different then the chances are that cell phone and internet service are not a part of that culture. In that case I would keep my Bible.   

The insights I have gained during this exercise is that my family culture is not necessarily tied to material things.  I found it difficult to identify things that represent my family culture...my family culture goes beyond the "stuff" we have.  It's more about our beliefs and our time spent together.  I have other things that I have collected from my relatives...a chair my grandfather made, dishes that my grandmother gave me, etc.  but these things are just things and only hold value due to the memories and the people that gave them to me.  So to say that culture goes way beyond the "stuff" is an understatement.   This holds true for children when they are a part of the early childhood environment.  Including culture means more than having food and items that may or may not represent a child's culture,  It means recognizing and valuing the beliefs and the family's way of doing things.  Culture goes far beyond and is much more significant than "things" (Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O., 2010).

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) pg. 56.