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.

Merida was adventurous

I get scared.

Most of the people in the world are bigger than me. Gosh, the whole world is a pretty big place.

How can I be sure I will find my way back? I can’t even drive. And even I know my ABCs, I don’t know anything about GPS.

When I was little, my daddy said, I would do a lot of roaming. I was quite adventurous he said. He took me to the mall and though he NEVER took his eyes off of me he would let me wander … just to see how far I would go and how long I would go before I thought to make sure his eyes were still on me and that I wouldn’t be lost.

Just 2-3-4 years old and I would go 40-50 yards or so.

Now that I am bigger I am not as brave. How can my daddy, the world’s best, teach me to be more adventurous?

As I look back I think it was important to know that my daddy always had his eyes on me. As long as I knew that I could explore.

I guess I need to keep remembering that my daddy looks out for me … and my daddy can keep reminding me that he is watching out for me. That’ll help big time.

Oh … and for sure, remembering some of my role models – Belle, Merida – helps, too. Look how things turned out for them. What if Belle did not dream of far off places and Merida did not take Angus into the countryside?

Yeah, I am going to be more adventurous as long as I know daddy is watching.

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