Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

There’s a well-known story about a mommy mouse and a baby mouse being chased by a cat until they are cornered.

Suddenly the mommy mouse looks at the cat and says, “Woof!”

The cat is frightened and runs away like, well, a scared cat.

The mommy mouse turns to the baby mouse and says, “See, it really does pay to be bi-lingual.”

When daddy was in Bangkok he thought he would go for a walk.

It’s hard sometimes, says daddy, to trust taxi drivers and such when you are in a foreign land and don’t know the roads.

In Bangkok they have tuk tuk drivers.

Read => Meet a girl named Shampoo?

Daddy’s plan was to walk to the shopping area to buy me and mommy some souvenir.

Out of nowhere, the wrinkly old fellow in the picture starts talking to daddy in broken English.

Before you know it the guy had negotiated daddy into his tuk tuk and took took him to the mall about 4+ miles away for just 35 baht = $1.10.

Of course, they had to make one stop on the way. That’s how tuk tuk drivers get gas money, by delivering customers to vendors.

Daddy played along, did some shopping and politely went to the mall. The tuk tuk driver got his gas money, too.

Have you ever found it very beneficial to be able to speak two languages?

Please take a moment to read and share your thoughts at 5-year old Mia’s home web site. <= click

No sales, just a little girl with an online presence.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.