SHARE YOUR ROOTS

I’ve always felt that history plays a critical role in our upbringing. And as a Filipino immigrant in America with first-generation children, I think it’s even more critical that we share our family history with our children to nurture identity leading to self-esteem and other critical virtues like integrity.

I've seen too many Filipino-Americans, young and old, ashamed or even embarassed of their Filipino roots. Filipino pride lost to years of American colonialism. I've even seen it everywhere. You can sense the shame and even resentment of being Filipino in their words.

These recent studies/articles just validate my thoughts! Key takeaways…know where you come from, know your family history and share it all. Be proud of who you are, where you come from and your children will be too.

"The power of the family stories and the family history is really remarkable…There seems to be something that's particularly important about children knowing where they came from in a larger sense and having a sense of family history and a family place."

“Youngsters benefited from knowing the ‘characters' in their family's history, according to the study. Children saw relatives as heroes, as larger than life, as having lessons to teach. That sense of specialness provided them with not only resilience in the face of inevitable life challenges, but with resistance to, even immunity from, the effects of various life stresses."

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20051012-104931-8845r.htm

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/euhs-fms101105.php