Culture birdies
A Multicultural Family Blog
We’re a family who has had to live apart across two continents, Europe and the US, for a big part of our relationship. While long-distance relationships are hard, exhausting, and can tear people apart, we decided to take it head on and turn it into a great adventure.
Through our blog, we aim to share the invaluable lessons we’ve learned from living a global life, offering insights, tips, and best practices for navigating the intricate craziness of multicultural family life. Join us as we figure things out and learn to live a balanced life between continents!
xo, Mama Bird
Latest Posts
International Life
Curious about living an international life? Living in different countries can be an exciting and enriching experience, depending on where you are in life and your intentions for living abroad. From getting married and having a baby abroad to learning new languages and fitting into new cultures, there has always been something new for us to learn and adapt to.
While living in a foreign country can be thrilling, it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. At least the process of moving and adapting to the new country. It can be lonesome, intimidating, stressful, and complicated. But there are so many positive things about global living that make all of the negative things totally manageable. You get to meet interesting people of different backgrounds and cultures. Watching kids adjust to new countries and time zones, and how they turn into little adventurers and global citizens. Traveling to new places and exploring more of the world. And even though long-distance relationships can be tough, they often become stronger through this experience. In times like these, maintaining connections with family and friends across the globe ensures a sense of home wherever you are.
There is no one way to set up a thriving international life, but it definitely helps to go into it with good tips for how to make it work best for you. We’ll share all of our tips, secrets, experiences, and life hacks with you to help make your global adventures amazing!
Kids Education & Development
Raising a multicultural child opens up a world of possibilities and is even easier to do these days with so many diverse educational resources and tools. Multicultural education and development can be fostered through many approaches and topics of interest, such as: arts and crafts, books, food, events, and activities that celebrate various cultures.
Just like there is no one way to teach a child to be bilingual, there are infinite ways to cultivate a multicultural and diverse environment for your family. Online tools even offer interactive ways for kids to learn about traditions, rituals, and holidays from around the globe. There are many ways to embrace cultural traditions – you can celebrate special holidays by making DIY crafts, dressing up cultural clothes, making dishes from that country’s cuisine, and singing songs in that language. All of these activities teach children the significance of diversity and help them appreciate the beauty of different cultures. We’ll show you how integrating these strategies can help you create a vibrant, inclusive environment that nurtures a child’s growth and understanding of the world. Fostering a multicultural life not only unlocks opportunities for learning and development, it’s super fun and exciting for all involved!
Bilingualism & Multilingualism
If you are thinking of raising children with more than one language, our blog is for you! First, we all need to remember, we don’t have to be of mixed race or originally from one culture to teach a culture or language to another. If you want your kids to embrace learning about other cultures and languages, even if they’re not born into that culture, do not be discouraged to start! With so many resources and great support for multilingual environments these days, there’s never been a better time to start.
Multilingualism isn’t just about speaking multiple languages — it’s a gateway to a world of opportunities and cognitive benefits for all. From building confidence to fostering a strong sense of identity, multilingualism lays the foundation for raising culturally kind and curious citizens of the world. But the perks don’t end there! There are many studies showing multilingual children enjoy improved cognitive abilities, better academic performance, and a deeper understanding of diverse cultures and traditions. Plus, did you know that being bilingual is thought to delay the onset of dementia later on in life? Talk about brain power! The best part? You can get in on that brain power benefit when you learn alongside your family. Multilingualism isn’t just a skill — it’s a superpower that opens doors to new cultures, perspectives, and opportunities. We’ll share our insights and experiences on how each person in our family became bilingual (including how our son is now trilingual)!
Family Travel & Safety
We’ve been avid travelers for most of our life, but when we had our son, we momentarily lost the desire and ambition to travel. Kids change everything. The idea of traveling with our extremely active toddler immediately stresses us out, with having to pack so many things, anticipate things that he’ll need throughout the trip, and researching whether our destination is family friendly or not. Then add safety considerations on top of this and we’re already exhausted just thinking of everything that could go wrong. Because let’s be real – things can go awry and while adults can handle changes in the trip, a young child can’t really. How do we get from the airport to the hotel in a safe way for our child who still needs a car seat? Is the neighborhood we’re staying in safe to explore? How do we help our child adjust to the new environment without disrupting his daily routine – at least the basics like sleeping, eating, pooping – too much?
So, traveling with kids is not really relaxing, BUT we’ve found ways to make traveling fun, safe, and memorable with kids and we’re grateful our love for traveling is still here within us! Before any trip, whether a day trip to a local spot or a longer trip that requires sleeping elsewhere, we are always doing a lot of research to prepare. We’ve pulled together our favorite and most valuable tips, as well as recommendations – based on our own research and personal experiences – for how to thrive when traveling with your family.