How are you going to "culture" your child?

jillianmb · September 2012

Is exposing your kid to culture a value you hold? When it comes to the arts, music, literature etc., what active steps do you plan to take? As a kid I only went to the museum with my school and I didn't see my first ballet until last year. My aunt is an artist and my grandma is a classical music lover, so I did get a little culture, but not as much as I would have liked. As an adult I relish any exposure to poetry, theater etc., but I always feel like I am playing catch up and wish I would have been taught more of an appreciation at a younger age.

Now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do differently with my kids. How are you going to culture your kids?

bumpuser794640 · September 2012

We live in a major metropolitan area, so I hope to be able to expose our child to many different types of cultural activities - art, history, and science museums, opera, symphony, ballet, food festivals, music festivals (we have both an arts & jazz and a blues festival in our town every year), enjoying ethnic restaurants, etc. We also have a large university with an amazing music program (and pretty great art programs) in our town, so there's almost always something to do!

Dr.Loretta · September 2012

DH had a ton of cultural exposure as a kid. His mom used to load him up on busses into the nearest city and take him to all sorts of things. He became the opera go-to guy on his trivia team

I had very little. I grew up in podunk towns and there wasn't much available, though I read like a fiend.

We live in a suburb of a large urban area so I'm pretty sure that we'll expose DD to a lot of culture as she gets older, assuming we stay here.

bumpuser794640 · September 2012

Oh, and how can I forget my favorite?! We will definitely be taking our child to the public library frequently. I'm getting my master's in Library and Information Science, so exposure to all different kinds of literature, movies, etc. is also extremely important to me.

sarahtoledo · September 2012

LOL @ culture as a verb. Stick out tongue MH and I are artists so we won't be able to avoid it. Most of our friends are in the arts, so I imagine we'll have opportunities to do more in-depth, backstage experiences. We will bring kid(s) to the art museum, symphony events (they have programming specifically for kids), theatre, and galleries regularly. We're both really into food, too, and we will have a "taste everything" rule.

I want to start a Nutcracker or Messiah (or both!) holiday tradition... and we're often in Chicago and the MCA is a favorite. Oh, and don't forget, memberships to museums and zoos are awesome for kids. The zoo counts as a museum. Smile

Julie721 · September 2012

I am not from a particularly "artsy" family, but we tend to enjoy culture. We went to musicals a couple times a year growing up, and they always picked ones that we as kids would like (like Joseph or Lion King). We also went to many museums, but we were also spoiled to live close to Chicago, which (IMHO) has some of the better museums out there and lots of fun things for kids. We also went to some art exhibits, but we weren't as into those. My parents also love traveling, so culturing us also meant overseas trips. DH's family was very similar, and we hope to do the same with DS and any subsequent children.

francophonia · September 2012

I'm a linguist and love languages. Literature, music, languages, and art are all over our house. My wife is a scientist so we also have science deeply entrenched in our home, and we often blend the two.

kacelle · September 2012

DH's family is huge into music, and DH plays about ten million different instruments. I hope to get DD and any future kids involved with music and dance, and to take her to museums/ballets/landmarks as often as possible. I really enjoy those sorts of outings.

DaisyZH · September 2012

My DH is a musician, he plays bass and teaches at a local music studio. We have already done some Music Together classes and DS loves them. I am thinking first we will try and either do ukulele (weird I know but my DS' music teacher says it is the easiest family instrument) or piano - I think piano would be a great building block if he is into music and wants to learn more.

I LOVE reading and we go to the library here once or twice a week. We also have a local museum that is pretty great and has rotating exhibits.

jillianmb · September 2012

sarahtoledo:
LOL @ culture as a verb. MH and I are artists so we won't be able to avoid it. Most of our friends are in the arts, so I imagine we'll have opportunities to do more in-depth, backstage experiences. We will bring kid(s) to the art museum, symphony events (they have programming specifically for kids), theatre, and galleries regularly. We're both really into food, too, and we will have a "taste everything" rule.
I want to start a Nutcracker or Messiah (or both!) holiday tradition... and we're often in Chicago and the MCA is a favorite. Oh, and don't forget, memberships to museums and zoos are awesome for kids. The zoo counts as a museum.

I figure if you can culture yogurt you can culture kids too, right?

jackieo1309 · September 2012

If we continue to live in NYC (or nearby) we'll have some amazing cultural opportunities for our future children. We're really looking forward to taking them to all the museums, broadway shows, operas, ballets and outdoor concerts. I did ballet for 12 years and definitely plan to at least encourage our children to try some type of dance or music classes. Balanchine's Nutcracker will definitely be a Christmas tradition (I was a soldier and a candy cane in Miami City Ballet's Balanchine Nutcracker!). We would really like for our children to at least learn some spanish also. MIL is Cuban/Puerto Rican and we spend a lot of time with her side of the family so I hope our children pick up some of that culture. We LOVE traveling also and definitely plan to take our children abroad with us if possible.

Art Teacher · September 2012

Yes, exposing my daughter to culture is extremely important! First, I just think it is so very valuable. Second, I'm an art teacher and so passionate about the visual arts.

I don't remember going to the art museum until I was an adult. I took ballet and gymnastics for a year. I took ice skating for 2 years. I drew a lot as a kid and as a young adult. I found "my place" with art - I loved art class and the creative writing magazine at my high school. I wrote poetry and stories. As a young adult, I went to the theater and concerts (still do!) Now I write - I write a blog about open adoption and I'm working on a book. I paint and draw - I'm working on a painting right now for a friend who is adopting and have plans to finish another painting that I started a while back...

My parents encouraged me - they saw that I like to draw and write and they encouraged me. My mom was a good role model - she loves to be creative. My dad is really good at making things -- more like woodworking. I had a great art teacher in high school and had good professors in college.

As an art teacher, I would say exposure is the most important thing. I'm a SAHM at the moment, but when I'm teaching the most common thing I hear from parents is "I never learned about O'Keeffe/Matisse/Van Gogh/Monet/Picasso/etc in elementary school." And with my students, especially the really young ones, I hear "Oh, I'm not allowed to use ______ at home" - markers, scissors, playdough, clay, glitter, etc.

Expose your kids to artists - show them books. Go to museums. Visit the park and do leaf rubbings. Do chalk drawings outside. Set up an easel inside or take a canvas outside. Play music! Dance. Draw while you listen to music. Have fun -- do art with your child! Play with clay or playdough. Go to a paint your own pottery place. Take your child to concerts. Go to shows and movies. Show them how to LOOK and LISTEN - teach them how to notice details. Ask them how music/art/dance makes them feel! Try a class - maybe dance, maybe art. HONOR their art -- hang it up, give it to Grandma/Grandpa, make a tshirt out of it! It's unrealistic to keep everything (believe me, I'd love to!) but do special things with them. Hang it up in your home. We have a canvas painted by Zoe hanging right outside her bedroom door and a watercolor she painted framed in our hallway.

I think if your child sees how much you value and appreciate the arts, he/she will, too!

Art Teacher · September 2012

sarahtoledo:

I want to start a Nutcracker or Messiah (or both!) holiday tradition... and we're often in Chicago and the MCA is a favorite. Oh, and don't forget, memberships to museums and zoos are awesome for kids. The zoo counts as a museum.

I LOVE the idea of doing the Nutcracker as a holiday tradition! I think I may try to do that this year....what do you think? She'll be 3 (and 3 months) at that point.

JellyTwoPointO · September 2012

I'm blessed in that my parents made sure I was exposed to a variety of culture. I plan on taking them to museums of science, art, history, etc and do "family field trips" and take vacations where historical things can be learned as well. I want them to go to see stage theater productions of all sorts (musicals, drama, comedy, progressive, classic), to see choirs and orchestras, etc. I also want to expose them to all music. My husband is a guitarist and I know my kids will grow up listening to Stevie Ray Vaugh and Jimi Hendrix and other classic rock guitarists, but I want them exposed to EVERYTHING. I also want to culture my kids on culture. Go to different festivals that celebrate ethnic heritages and learn about other ethnic cultures, foods, traditions, clothes, beliefs, etc. That is also very important to me.

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