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.

Teaching Little Girls to Love to Read

Mia’s mother and I will be traveling for a little over two weeks. Mia will stay at home with her grandparents, go to school, play with her friends and do the things she does normally everyday.

Her mother and I brainstormed a little bit on how we might make it fun for Mia for us to be gone.

One of the ideas we came up with was for me to write a story for Mia to read while we were gone. Mia is really loving reading.

The idea was for Mia to read one ‘chapter’ – she’s still in kindergarten – each day. Each day would give her some adventure. And her mother would buy her a mini-prize that she could attach to that day’s reading to help her think through what was going on the fantasy.

Reading a chapter each day would also give Mia something to look forward to each day – a new adventure, a new prize, something new to ponder on.

In addition to enjoying (hopefully) the story, Mia would be reminded that her parents never ever stop thinking of her.

Lots of fun all around.

The truth is I have not thought this through thoroughly. What I want is for Mia:

1. to know her parents are always thinking of her.

2. to have something to look forward to each day.

3. to think about the adventure she is on in the mini-story I have created

4. to think of her parents who are thinking about her.

Will that make her more thoughtful? I don’t know. But it’s fun trying.

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