Raising our Boys: Filipino-Bajan-Canadian

Family pic, who dis?

Five years in and we’re still learning the ropes on raising twin boys and as we try to navigate through every day of just keeping them fed, active, and out of harm’s way we’ve recognized as parents that they’ve got to know their roots and understand their culture.

Hubby is Bajan-Canadian (Barbados) and I’m Filipino-Canadian (Philippines), making my little guys Filipino-Bajan-Canadian. Now say that 10 times real fast. So, what works? We build these three things into our day-to-day … educate, celebrate and share stories.

EDUCATE – as a couple when we started dating, just naturally we were curious about each other’s background and I also think we both wanted to impress each other. So, we did our homework. Today as parents, it’s helped us with our boys and I wanted to share with you that in the early stages of them learning words and talking, a priority was teaching them to say that they are “Filipino-Bajan-Canadian”.

CELEBRATE – being a multicultural family, there are so many traditions and occasions to celebrate between the two cultures. But you know what, we don’t celebrate all of them. We celebrate events that work for our family unit and to be honest sometimes we base it on how we’re feeling that day. One year, we took the boys to Barbados on the Water festival and skipped Filipino Independence Day festivities. Then we flipped attending the festivities the following year and then the year after that, we didn’t go to either celebration.

SHARE STORIES – everyone’s got a story, not just hubby and I. The boys are lucky to have amazing grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, and cousins so the storytelling is endless. Kids are curious and they’re sponges, so they’ll take it all in. And you know what, I learned so much more hearing a story the second time around, being a parent and all.

How is it working for you? I’m always looking to expand what we can do to teach my boys about their culture.

Drop a comment below.

Sunshine Lily