Teaching Kids About Their Heritage

My kids know that primarily, they are Polish and Mexican. We celebrate these nationalities in the biggest way by eating Mexican and Polish Food. On Christmas and most family get-togethers on Troy's side, we eat Mexican food. Before Christmas, we make traditional tamales with Troy's Aunts and Abuelita. This means the entire world to me to teach my kids this important family tradition. With my mom, we have made pierogi and homemade kapusta (sauerkraut). Heritage can really be shown through food.

Troy's Abuelita (grandma) in Spanish came from Mexico in her twenties. She didn't know much English which was tough and she had to learn about how things were done in America. My great grandparents came from Poland on my mom's side and their immigration was tough as well. 

We teach our kids everything that we know about their heritage by celebrating holidays and traditions of the different nationalities than we are. I am also German so we sometimes have traditional German food. I think that it is so important to teach kids where they came from. We also teach our kids the stories that we know about our history and talk to older relatives who can tell us stories.

Since both of our families were immigrants, we have a special place in our hearts for immigrants. In my state of Michigan, 8.4 percent of essential workers are foreign born and 8.2% of the total work force is foreign born. In the food industry which is what I work in, 19.8% of workers are foreign born. 

This time has been hard on our entire nation and no matter where you come from, we need to pull together and stand united. 73% of farm workers and 40% of food packers are immigrants. Immigrants have been indispensable during this pandemic and should be included in relief efforts.