2.1 Helping your child to know and embrace their heritage

While love alone cannot solve everything, if you can be sympathetic to the issues confronted by a child of minority ethnic origins you can share a positive journey with them as you learn about and value differences.

A parent needs to be aware of issues around racism, to support and be a voice for their child when necessary. It is important to be sensitive to your child’s feelings of difference to give them confidence to share with you any worries they may have.

It helps to live in an ethnically diverse community, with schools etc. that are accustomed to dealing with a mixed pupil base. This can reduce the sense of isolation for a child and provide easy access to events and activities across a broad spectrum of different cultures.

Exploration and experiences should be part of everyday life and can include the following:

• contact with or awareness of positive role models from the child's cultural background.
• learning and sharing the history and geography of your child's country or countries of heritage. This may include visits to those countries in the future.
• learning about their religious heritage and making decisions about whether to actively embrace that religion. Many schools celebrate a range of religious and cultural traditions as a way of helping children learn and value different practices.
• exploring together with your child their cultural roots, including arts and literature.
• learning about your child's heritage and language(s).
• becoming acquainted with their culinary traditions of your child's heritage (though most children will embrace a range of cuisine quite happily!).

Finally, remember there is much joy to be had for your whole family in sharing different heritages, enjoying the opportunities and experiences this can bring as you build your relationship with your children over a lifetime.

Finally, it should be kept in mind that there is much joy to be had for the whole family in sharing different heritages, mixing and matching elements of different cultures, enjoying the opportunities and experiences this can bring over a lifetime.  A child needs to feel that all aspects of their heritage are valued to enable them to choose what feels right for them or not.

This May Include:

• A parent also needs to be aware of issues around racism, to support and be a voice for their child where necessary.
• Learning about their religious heritage and making decisions about whether to actively embrace that religion.
• Exploring their cultural roots, including arts and literature.
• Learning about their heritage language(s).
• Becoming acquainted with their culinary traditions (though most children will embrace a range of cuisine quite happily).
• When older visit countries.