Culturally Unbound: Experiences of Cross-Cultural Interaction - Essay Sample

Introduction

I am an American born by an American father and a French mother, who brought me up in a manner that I do not culturally describe myself. I have traveled globally and experienced diverse cultures of which I respect them, appreciate them, and learn from them. I have studied and worked abroad, therefore, I acknowledge the importance of the cross-cultural interaction. My beliefs, values, and behaviors' is a combination of all the cultures I have interconnected within the course of working, learning, and interacting.

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My cultural background connection essentially makes who I am. The French culture of equality, built and cemented by my mother has always been what drives me. Coupled with the fact that I am a Christian, I always promote fairness and discourage discrimination.

I, my mother, and my siblings speak French in addition to English. My father also understands it but doesn't speak it. We don't always speak French in our day to day activities but we do so sometimes in a family gathering or with other francophones in our locality.

Our family practices various family traditions that provide continuity and belonging to our family culture. A family gathering always happens during Christmas where a Christmas tree is ordered and beautifully fitted with lights. A meal is also prepared where we enjoy together as a family. Cooking my mother's favorite dish (coq au vin - a traditional French dish) during my grandmother's anniversary has been a ritual we have always upheld since she passed away.

Nearly all my family members show affection by being good listeners. When I have a problem that is weighing heavily on me, I share with either my parents or relatives, which greatly lift my morale since I am shown love and support. It has helped me learn how to be a good listener and helps inaccurate assessment of problems and provide support assistance if the need arises.

My family members are good listeners and effective problem solvers. In the case of arguments or discussion, they always appreciate differing contributions and show the willingness to always meet at a neutral ground.

Our father always advised sharing of mistake experiences during dinner. This ensured one owned the mistake and a lesson would be learned that helped in positive change and positive thinking. The saying, "if you place good apples in a bad situation, you will get bad apples", helped us in behavioral change and selection of friends and company.

Infant feeding practices should be in accordance with the WHO and UNICEF recommendations of optimal nutrition. The recommendations include; quick introduction to breastfeeding (within 1 month of childbirth), complete 6 months breastfeeding, and the initiation of safe complementary feeding. These optimal nutrition recommendations promote child growth and development and eliminate health risks thus save on any health financial costs. On self-feeding, children should be encouraged and allowed to do it as early as possible. They should be allowed to become independent during feeding from infancy onwards. Proper tools like small cups should be provided, taught how to use them, closely monitored, and encouraged whenever in use, for them to gain self-esteem and confidence.

Appropriate discipline techniques include; creation and nurturing of the behaviors one wants their children to express, the setting of age-appropriate rules to be followed, creation and explanation of the consequences that will follow if the rules are broken, and ensuring that the consequences are implemented without favor whenever one breaks the rules. Several consequences due to misbehaving (loss of some privileges but not spanking) should be executed to show the seriousness of your word and rules as the parent, therefore, discourage repetition. A parent should explain their reasoning to their kids especially if the matter concerns them. Sharing strengthens the parent-child bond of trust and also serves as a learning method for the young ones (who view adults as their role models) and hence it would make the kid share whenever something affects them.

When growing up, the lack of good behavior was not tolerated at all by my parents. Several repercussions were in place for misbehaving. One would be given a time-out or denied some things like beloved toys until one learned from the mistake and apologized. This helped in self-management and self-control.

The behavior of girls shows that they are good listeners, more fearful than boys and they don't talk back a lot to their parents. On the other hand, boys show a behavioral trend that is; much less fearful than the girls, direct honesty on matters, and less attentive when being spoken to.

I understand there is no problem with the gay or lesbian family. I believe homosexuality is just a sexual orientation and the family just functions as well as a heterosexual one. Being a member of the biracial family, I do not feel bad for myself at all. The bias and discrimination that existed before for the homosexuals and multiracial is slowly disintegrating. Americans have embraced human diversity very positively.

I have experienced problems interacting with the French people whenever I visit France. The natives always wonder how I try to connect myself to France yet I know very little of the traditional cultures, and it is very tough.

I once wore a Native American headdress with feathers to a concert. At the time, I didn't know that I irritated the Native Americans who consider wearing the headdress as a way to display honor or victory for their culture.

Biases about children, families, and culture that I have to acknowledge and overcome in order to become a successful early childhood educator include; race, gender, sexual orientation, family composition, ethnicity, economic class, physical abilities, age, and physical characteristics. To subdue these biases, I have to institute an anti-bias Early Childhood Education (ECCE) program based on identity, diversity, justice, and action. That is, I will have to identify each bias, diversify its cases among various cases, find a working solution, and act on it.

References

Bredekamp, S., (2016). Embracing a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse World. In Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation (3rd ed.).