Today we attended G's Thanksgiving luncheon at his school today. Many parents took their time out to have a traditional Thanksgiving feast with their children at school.
Before the food got here, each student were giving a bowl of crayons and a coloring sheet. They were told to color the turkey with numbers in cooresponding parts. Of course, not all the parents showed up so there were a few kids that sat amongst students with their parents. These were quite a well-behaved bunch of kids, I must say!
Since they are in pre-K, the teacher ordered the meal and delivered the food to the classroom. We all sat in two long tables decorated with orange paper and Thanksgiving-themed cutouts. We didn't have the meal at the cafeteria with rest of the school, which was nice in its own right because the atmosphere was cozier and less noisy.
G's class only has seven students in the class - each from a different background. So it is quite a treat for him to be associated with different ethnicity at such an young age. It was also quite interesting to observe how parents act/react toward their children and other kids.
As everyone got settled with their food, people began to be more relaxed. Then I noticed something interesting. American parents will venture out to kids not their own and talk to them; whereas others do less. One American mother noticed that a kid (without a parent) was not touching his mashed potatos with gravy and proceed to ask him why he didn't want to eat it.
Kid: I ate the mashed potato around the gravy.
Adult: Oh, but the gravy is the best part! My favorite was the gravy.
Kid: <looked at his food and thought about it>
Adult: Do you know what I did when I was a kid?
Kid: <looked at her>
Adult: I used to put a big hole on top of my mashed potato, and then I'll put gravy right in the middle that hole. The gravy will overflow the potato. And do you know what I'd call that?
Kid: <shooked head>
Adult: I called that "volcano"! A mashed potato volcano! And it was so yummy! And I get to play with my food, too!
This type of interaction is rarely seen with adults of Asian-descent. A stranger adult and a stranger child.
But what is so different is that this said adult actually took the time to let the child imagine what fun the food could be if it were imagined to be something else. With Asians, eat is eat. No nonsense. This below is what you'd typically see between an Asian adult and a child:
Adult: Eat your food.
Kid: <look at food>
Adult: Hurry up and eat or it'll get cold.
Kid: <look at adult>
Adult: C'mon! Hurry! Take a bite.
Kid: <shake head>
Adult: I'm going to count to 3 and you are going to take a bite. 1...2...3!
Which method would more likely to motivate a child to take a bite? Which would you listen to?
Before the food got here, each student were giving a bowl of crayons and a coloring sheet. They were told to color the turkey with numbers in cooresponding parts. Of course, not all the parents showed up so there were a few kids that sat amongst students with their parents. These were quite a well-behaved bunch of kids, I must say!
Since they are in pre-K, the teacher ordered the meal and delivered the food to the classroom. We all sat in two long tables decorated with orange paper and Thanksgiving-themed cutouts. We didn't have the meal at the cafeteria with rest of the school, which was nice in its own right because the atmosphere was cozier and less noisy.
G's class only has seven students in the class - each from a different background. So it is quite a treat for him to be associated with different ethnicity at such an young age. It was also quite interesting to observe how parents act/react toward their children and other kids.
As everyone got settled with their food, people began to be more relaxed. Then I noticed something interesting. American parents will venture out to kids not their own and talk to them; whereas others do less. One American mother noticed that a kid (without a parent) was not touching his mashed potatos with gravy and proceed to ask him why he didn't want to eat it.
Kid: I ate the mashed potato around the gravy.
Adult: Oh, but the gravy is the best part! My favorite was the gravy.
Kid: <looked at his food and thought about it>
Adult: Do you know what I did when I was a kid?
Kid: <looked at her>
Adult: I used to put a big hole on top of my mashed potato, and then I'll put gravy right in the middle that hole. The gravy will overflow the potato. And do you know what I'd call that?
Kid: <shooked head>
Adult: I called that "volcano"! A mashed potato volcano! And it was so yummy! And I get to play with my food, too!
This type of interaction is rarely seen with adults of Asian-descent. A stranger adult and a stranger child.
But what is so different is that this said adult actually took the time to let the child imagine what fun the food could be if it were imagined to be something else. With Asians, eat is eat. No nonsense. This below is what you'd typically see between an Asian adult and a child:
Adult: Eat your food.
Kid: <look at food>
Adult: Hurry up and eat or it'll get cold.
Kid: <look at adult>
Adult: C'mon! Hurry! Take a bite.
Kid: <shake head>
Adult: I'm going to count to 3 and you are going to take a bite. 1...2...3!
Which method would more likely to motivate a child to take a bite? Which would you listen to?
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