The first generation of American immigrant children

It is always difficult for the first generation immigrants to raise their children in a foreign land. Is the way to educate children inclined to integrate into the national culture or to retain the values of the mother country? When I became a mother, I realized that many small things can make me so upset …

It is always difficult for the first generation immigrants to raise their children in a foreign land. The way to educate children is to integrate into the culture of the country or to retain the values of the motherland, which is often a fierce tug-of-war in the hearts of parents.

Personally, I think I should be proud of my language and culture, but whenever I encounter obstacles caused by language in my work or life, or when it is difficult to break into other people's social circles because of cultural differences, I wonder if I should make my child more like an "American", so that he can better adapt to school and work, make friends more easily and suffer less losses in the future.

My friends around me have two schools of education because of their different ideas. Friends in the first school try their best to speak English with their children, choose to live in areas where there are fewer Chinese, do a good job of investigation when children are very young, send their children to kindergartens where there are fewer Chinese to learn English, and often invite English-speaking children to play at home, so that mothers can practice English with their children's mothers and friends.

Another group of friends' children only speak English at school, speak Chinese at home and go to Chinese school during holidays. Most of my mother's friends are Chinese-speaking families, and even churches go to Chinese churches. Some parents also teach their children to read ancient Chinese and Tang poems, and their children's language level is no less than that of children in Taiwan Province Province.

You can't have it both ways.

In a family that tries to speak English, children can speak fluent English very early. They go to primary school, have no language barriers, communicate with teachers and classmates, and have fewer adaptation problems. They can make friends with whites, blacks, Latinos or Asians. But at the same time, they have less opportunities to communicate with their grandparents and other relatives. They usually don't know their own cultural roots, and the history of their parents' hometown only comes from a few thin chapters in the history textbook.