Teaching Children Cultural Literacy

The military embodies cultural diversity among service members and family members, featuring different languages, foods, traditions, and faiths. But, it doesn’t automatically teach children about different cultures. Parents can create several ways for children to learn the benefits of being surrounded by diversity to build understanding and teach respect for how others live their lives.

Begin with Your Own Family’s Ordinary, Everyday Life Story

At a very young age, children notice differences in others, creating an opportunity for teaching moments. These don’t have to be big, obvious teaching moments. Rather, this is when parents can teach their own family’s story while they also teach about the culture of others. Below are a few tips for getting started:

• Host a Family Culture dinner party and invite neighbors. Ask them to bring their favorite dish representing their family heritage.
• Share what books you read or movies you watched as a child. Then, find books and movies that represent other cultures. Children will naturally share what they are curious about and can be involved in discovering what other cultures are all about.
• Tell stories about grandparents or ancestors from your family through photo albums or through visiting family members and gravestones.
• When you move to a duty station, explore the area. Look at old maps and compare them to now. Visit museums, theaters, and attend cultural organizations in your local area.
• Attend different religious events.
• Learn greetings, polite phrases, and correct pronunciation of different languages.
• Research everyday etiquette from other cultures. Compare them with your own and discuss why and how they work for each culture.
• Create a cultural passport. Have the children get involved in the process of filling it out. Each time you relocate it, fill in the same information for that location based on the local culture.

While it is fun to learn about different cultures, it’s important to teach children that learning a culture does not give someone a reason to tease, mock, or exclude someone else.

Helpful Resources for Guidance

If you’re just not sure exactly where to start and would like more specific guidance, here are some resources to assist you:

• American Academy of Pediatrics: “Celebrating Heritage: Tips for Parents.” Excellent support for cultural pride, diverse books, learning about traditions and modeling respect.
• American Academy of Pediatrics: “Talking to Children About Racial Bias.” Useful for age-appropriate conversations, answering children’s questions, and examining parental bias.
• National Association for the Education of Young Children: “Understanding Anti-Bias Education.” Supports treating diversity as an ongoing practice involving identity, differences, fairness, and action.
• NAEYC: “Holidays in a Diverse World.” Useful for discussing religious and cultural celebrations accurately and respectfully.
• Military OneSource: “Military Family Overseas PCS Moves.” Provides military-specific recommendations for researching language, culture, music, books, and traditions before an overseas move.
• Military Child Education Coalition: Its social-awareness guidance emphasizes recognizing and responding to students’ cultural values, traditions, and communication patterns.