Is it possible to raise children to be global citizens in a conservative society?
Is it possible to bring the ideas of globalization in a culture that might reject anything new?
Is it possible to raise children as global citizens, yet respect their own culture?
These are the questions that we as parents, caregivers or educators should be aware of, when raising/educating children in the current global world. For me, as a mother of three children in a conservative society, I believe it is not only possible but a necessity.
Extremism in any culture, I think, is partly a result of isolating a society from the world to the extend it rejects and fights anything that differs from them regardless of the reasons.
Therefore, some effort is needed. Our children are not only influenced by us as parents. They are influenced by all the other constituents of the society they evolve in especially.
As parents, we may start with ourselves. We may be culturally-sensitive, non-judgmental and educated to the differences around us. We may be very careful to what we say in front of children when they ask questions related to different cultures and ethnicity. We, ourselves, can be judgmental unfortunately sometimes towards a specific culture and may be careful with any words we utter in the presence of our children.
The other thing that I believe is crucial are resources. Books, television, internet programs, and after-school activities could be diverse. We are lucky to have diverse and a rich market that allows us to learn everything about anything. Travelling allows us more exposure to different cultures and learning opportunities.
I think that learning English (or any other language) at a young age provides more contact to different “diverse” materials. We do have more diverse materials in English than , say, in Arabic.
Charity works wonders in an interesting way too. You may involve your children in a charitable action into giving to others who are in another country or culture. This provides a learning opportunity, empathy towards others and a responsible child who believes he/she can make a change.
Preparing children to be global citizens is a must at the present. We will not be present at every step they take in their lives, but at least prepare them to manage better in a fast growing world.
What are your ideas to raise a global citizen?
This is an original post from our #WorldMom, Ibtisam from Oman for World Moms Blog.
Picture Credit to the author.
You can find more of her wonderful perspective on her blog: ibtisammusings.com.
Interesting ideas and questions. ..
The trade off between being a global citizen and yet safeguard your own specific culture is an old/new one..
we like to define ourself as very conservatives cultures . .think of japan in nineteenth century…and how japan managed to rise as a global political and economic power … and japan by many ways is still a conservative culture…
Raising child as global citizen is more than a necessity. ..it is a duty… for parents and for governments…
Best regards
Thanks Ramadhan for the comment,
What you added is a valid crucial point, it is manageable, role models are available. We just need to be more serious about it.
Thanks again.
I agree, we cannot be present in every step of our children’s lives, so we must plant the seed early.
We start with each individual child and celebrate his strengths and differences and build from there.
Many educators and parents start off by ignoring the differences and trying to focus on the sameness…good but not great. Too often we get caught up in the “we are all the same” rhetoric.
I don’t mean this in a negative way, but it just doesn’t jive with me in many circumstances. Sure, inside we are all the same, BUT, even children can see differences. We don’t all speak the same languages, eat the same foods, have the same abilities, or dress the same.
And YES Ibtisam, I agree – we MUST start with ourselves.
Great post!