How To Be...

I recently read How To Be Black by Baratunde Thurston. I had added it to my 'to read' list after a recommendation by Kristen Howerton who blogs at "Rage Against The Minivan". Kristen has a mixed race family and is intentional about how she can help her children form their identiy. My purpose was to have a better understanding of blacks in America, in general, and how I could better relate to students, in particular. 

That ended up being the bi-product. 

What I found was that as I was reading I was thinking about G, my Third Culture Kid. When we are in the States we are working on helping her to form her identity as an American kid. I kept thinking of "How To Be American" and what that means. She will never have the same outlook as those of her peers who live in our Seattle neighborhood, and we think that is a good thing. We also want her to be able to identify as an American.

What has that looked like this summer? Here are the two big ones...

She will see the Stars and Stripes and say, "there is an American" and we add in "flag".

When we travel anywhere, even just an hour by car, she wants to know what country we are in now, thus our conversations about cities and states.