February 14th has come to mean red and pink hearts, flowers, chocolates and Hallmark cards here in the US. But, how did Valentine’s Day become a day that we celebrate with our loved ones? Valentine’s Day began as a saint’s day commemorating Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the exchange of love notes in the form of “valentines.” Modern Valentine symbols include the winged Cupid and the heart. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.

We are all familiar with the US version of the Valentine’s Celebration – but how do other cultures celebrate the Holiday?

• In the UK a character called ‘Jack’ Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children.
• In Wales many people celebrate St Dwynwen’s Day on 25 January instead of, or as well as, St Valentine’s Day. The day commemorates St Dwynwen, the patron saint of Welsh lovers.
• In Finland, Valentine’s Day is called Ystävänpäivä which translates into “Friend’s day”. As the name says, this day is more about remembering your friends than your loved ones.
• In Slovenia, a proverb says that “St Valentine brings the keys of roots,” so on February 14, plants and flowers start to grow. Another proverb says “Valentin - prvi spomladin” (”Valentine — first saint of spring”), as in some places, Saint Valentine marks the beginning of spring.
• In Chinese culture, there is a counterpart to Valentine’s Day, called “The Night of Sevens”; according to legend the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid meet in Heaven on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar.

To put a unique spin on Valentine’s Day try incorporating some of the other special traditions practiced by cultures around the world.

1. Leave a present for your child on the doorstep from Jack Valentine
2. Spend time with your friends and encourage your children to do the same. Focus on fellowship more than the feelings of love.
3. Plant flowers, trees or bushes in celebration of the coming of Spring
4. Read the story of the Night of Sevens and discuss it with your children.

Please take a minute and consider that Valentine’s can be a fun and memorable day for children, families, parents and singles alike if we look at the Holiday through a different pair of eyes.

Having just returned recently from the Happiest Place on Earth & having had a WONDERFUL experience taking our 2 year old daughter for the first time, I thought this was a great slideshow the shows the cultural sensitivity of the Disney Company & the class with which they handle themselves in all aspects of their business.

Click here to view the slideshow 

Please enjoy the slideshow & visit Disneyland when you get the opportunity - you really will feel warm and fuzzy all over when you leave Lisa

In many communities across America the complaint is the same; “I want to help my children learn about other races, religions and cultures, but my community isn’t very integrated & my circle of friends is not diverse, what do I do?”  It’s true that although we are a country of diverse backgrounds, most people tend to seek out groups of friends of the same race, religion and/or ethnicity.  It is easier to find common ground and the language barrier is not present when spending time with others who share in our culture.

However, parents would like their children to be accepting and tolerant of other cultures even though they may not be exposed to them on a regular basis, what’s a parent to do?

Enter the wonderful world of children’s television programming.  With the choices our children now have, you can expose your children to multiple cultures, languages and traditions all in the same afternoon.  A new study released recently from the American Academy of Pediatrics reveals that high-quality educational programming can have a positive effect on young children. These programs assist in the acquisition of general knowledge and improve cognitive learning among children ages six and younger. The report also states that educational programming which emphasizes cultural and racial diversity can improve children’s attitudes to those subjects.

So, the television now becomes the ultimate cultural teacher & not the “boob tube” that parents once thought it to be.  The one possible drawback to this seemingly perfect answer?  There must be culturally diverse and age-appropriate shows for children to view & learn from.

Luckily for us parents searching, children’s programmers have responded.  There are any number of shows on television today featuring characters of different races, with disabilities and even those that speak different languages.  Three child-oriented stations are leading the pack with their high-quality, diverse and educational television programs.

PBS is the trailblazer in this category features Sesame Street, which has taught generations of children around the world their ABCs and how to count.  Much more than that, since the inception of the show 35 year ago, there have been racially diverse characters & characters with disabilities & they all work together to promote the overall the message of acceptance and togetherness.  Even today, there are strong female characters, multi-lingual characters that teach “words of the day,” & they have featured adopted families, non-traditional families & characters in wheelchairs all enjoying their time on 123 Sesame Street.

Nickelodeon has been the big winner in viewer share and profit with their introduction of Dora the Explorer and it’s spin off, Go Diego Go.  These educational cartoons feature multi-lingual, Hispanic characters that teach about animals, letters, numbers, counting and Hispanic traditions.  The real innovation with these programs is that they also focus on teaching Spanish to non-native speakers.  The repetition and interactive nature of the 30 minute shows make learning fun and also get children up off of the couch to participate in the actions that Dora, Diego and their friends instruct.

Nick is also launching a series in February with an Asian-American leading lady. The show, “Ni Hao, Kai Lan,” was created by a first generation Chinese American.  It targets 2- to 5-year-olds and follows bilingual five-year-old Kai-Lan as she learns about her inter-generational Chinese-American family. The curriculum focuses on social and emotional lessons, multicultural values, cause-and-effect thinking, and basic Mandarin Chinese language skills.

Finally, we have NOGGIN TV and the show, Little Bill, the everyday adventures of an African-American boy.  The show is based on Bill Cosby’s popular book series and is developed through research and in consultation with educational experts. The show is designed to help kids celebrate their everyday experiences and the people who share them. Little Bill shows kids that what they do makes a difference in the world. By dealing with conflicts encountered in everyday life, the program encourages children to value the love of their family, to increase self-esteem, and to develop social skills.

These programs are just the first in a long line of diverse and unique shows that will help our children to see that different is just different and we are no better or worse for not looking, speaking or dressing like “everyone else.”

Congratulations to PBS, Nickelodeon and Noggin TV for being innovators and addressing the need that we as parents have for teaching from the comfort of our own homes.  Nothing replaces the human interaction and relationships that are important to helping children understand cultural differences; it is still important to try to get involved and meet other families that are different from us.

In some circumstances however, that proves extremely difficult and given the choice between not exposing them to these differences at all, or spending an hour watching any of the children’s programs that were created to teach and enrich their experiences, I’m picking up the remote control.

Regionz Kidz books & clothing

PersonalChildStories.com - Who Am I and People and Trees

BarefootBooks.com (please use code EV98 when checking out)
Whole World Book & CD
Peace, Love & Vegatables Gift Box

Regionz Kidz would like to announce it’s partnerships with the following websites and blogs.  I will be writing for each of them on a monthly basis & they have tons of great articles and links for you to check out.  Please bookmark their sites or sign up for email or RSS updates!  Thanks

Lisa

www.essentialmom.com

www.TheBabyBoutiqueAtWombsWindow.com/blog

http://theparentingblog.learnandgrowtogether.com/

http://ptpblog.positivetoddlerparenting.com/