With today’s freedom of movement, more people than ever are becoming parents with somebody from a different culture. In fact, many people are seeking it out. It’s more interesting that way - and you can learn to have an entirely different life.
Parenting across cultures, however, can also create problems. Many countries approach the matter of parenting differently from people living in the west with some interesting results. Getting a UK spouse visa application might not be the only thing you’ll need to do to create a happy family life. You’ll also need to come to terms with alternative parenting practices.
They Might Want Their Kids To Spend Less Time In School
In the west, we have a culture that says that children need to spend all their time in school. If they don’t, they’ll “fall behind” and won’t be able to catch up in the future.
This view of the matter, however, is nonsense. There are plenty of countries that ask children to spend less time in school which ultimately achieve higher attainment. In Finland, for instance, kids spend the majority of their time outside the classroom, just enjoying their childhoods.
In fact, the dysfunction might be the other way around. In places like the UK, kids spend all week in school and then must work on homework in the evenings, on holidays and at the weekends. They never learn to take a genuine break and just be happy with being alive. It’s a tragedy.
They Allow Kids To Get Frustrated
As a parent, you might not like the idea of your kid becoming frustrated. From the outside, it seems unpleasant. But frustration is an extremely important emotion that teaches kids independence.
Cultures like the Japanese and Irish are extremely pro-frustration. They believe that it is a necessary emotional hurdle that young people need to overcome in order to become well-rounded adults. Far too many kids live in environments where they never feel genuine frustration so they never learn how to deal with it before they grow up.
They Might Expect Other People To Get Involved
In the west, people say that “it takes a village to raise a child.” But most of us don’t take that adage seriously - not really, anyway. However, in some countries, they really do. China and Congo, for instance, both involve many people in the raising of children, not just the parents.
This setup is actually very useful and something that many people appreciate. It means that the burden of responsibility for kids falls on multiple people, instead of just the parents themselves or a single mum. It actually makes parenting much less stressful than the main setup in the west where working parents have to do everything themselves.
They Allow Their Children To Go Hungry
In places like France and South Korea, parents let their children go hungry. It sounds like neglect but when done properly, it helps to stave off obesity and normalise their hunger levels. Children come to believe that eating is a social occasion and not something that they should do on their own. This reduces unhealthy snacking.
**This is a collaborative post**
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