Introducing Your (and other) Cultures to your Children

Hello and welcome to the Sheni & Teni Blog!

Here we will talk about all things African culture, parenting, play and wellbeing. We’d love for you to follow our journey and I think it’s fitting to start off this journey sharing a bit of the inspiration behind our debut products – Sheni & Teni’s African Cultural Puzzles. 

So…it’s 2018 and my first son is turning 3. I desperately want to find ways to bond with him and create opportunities to learn while playing. As a Nigerian mother in diaspora, I also want to find exciting ways to keep him connected to his culture. I want him to see the vibrant colours and the beauty of Yoruba culture. I want him to experience as much of it as possible through the toys and books he reads. But after searching high and low – I cannot find anything that would help me achieve this purpose.

I realise I also want him to learn about cultures other than his own. There is no reason to stop at just Yoruba culture. I want him to be well-rounded, knowledgeable about, and embracing of other cultures...celebrating the differences that sometimes threatens to separate us. And then I think…”Ok I can’t find anything that does this for me right now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t create it myself”…and that’s how this small business was birthed!! 💃🏾 💃🏾 💃🏾

So then…why is it important to introduce our (and other) cultures to our children? Why is it important to have a diverse bookshelf or play area?

1. Celebrating culture provides a frame of reference and context for the reason certain things are done a certain way.

 
2. Celebrating culture creates a sense of shared cultural identity, community and belonging.

4. It helps us embrace (not just tolerate) other cultures.

See our Metro Feature here for even more on these 5 reasons.

Hope you've enjoyed our debut post. Have a question or a comment? Please share - we'd love to hear from you 😊

Toodles 💜 x