I think my experiencing isms work both
positively and negatively to children and families. I try to act fairly or
speak up for victims of the isms I have experienced. For example, my mother only
asked me to help with the housework; only her daughter, not to her son. Since I
thought it was unfair, I try to teach children that we should be willing to
help others out with their work so that gender roles associated with certain
chores are not encouraged while making sure girls do not feel pressured to be
subordinate to others. I feel that being humble and hiding feelings or opinions,
traits that are considered virtues in my culture, do not help me to thrive in
American culture. Rather, I feel that people see me as unconfident or weak and
lead people act unfairly and disrespectfully towards me. So, I encourage
children not to hide their abilities or feelings as well as teach them to
respect others.
However, my experiences of isms may
have given me a negative impression of groups that I associate with people who’ve
acted in biased ways towards me. I might see a family from a certain group with
the prejudice that they could have prejudice against me without reason. And
this could become a barrier which would prevent me from having a truly trusting
relationship with them.
Hi Ayako,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you continue to gain confidence in yourself because you understand that from your own experiences. It is difficult to exhibit these feelings when you have been taught to hide them. Keep up the good work!
It is difficult to adapt sometimes to the different cultures. I am glad to see that you are learning from you experiences in the past and helping your children to build upon those experiences. When you have been raised to accept something one way and now as an adult you are trying to teach it another way can be very difficult. It is a part of life to have to adapt to where you are living and I wish you luck in adapting. It takes a lot of courage to abandon one way of living and accept another. Thanks for sharing.
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