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.

Learn the 6 R’s

There are 3 new R’s that kids need to learn. And, they actually start with R.

The old 3 R’s, of course, are Reading wRiting and aRithmetic.

And kids do still need to learn them.

I want to know how to read. And I want to know how to write. And I want to know how to do arithmetic.

But the new 3 R’s are also important.

They are: Relevant. Responsible. And, Resilient.

Relevant: I want to be up-to-date. I want to be able to keep up with my peers, maybe even pass them up from time to time. This doesn’t mean I want all the same toys and gadgets and gizmos. It means I want to be capable in technology, know how to do research online if I must and be able to match skill for skill that my friends are learning.

Responsible: I want people to be able to count on me. I want to learn how to take care of things. I want to learn what happens when I make a mistake. I want to learn to be forgiven and to forgive. I want people to trust me. I want to try to do things that are too hard for me.

Resilient: I want to bend but not break. I want to stretch my abilities and even fail sometimes so I can learn what do to better next time. I want to learn that making mistakes is not the end of the world. I want to learn what it means to bounce back. I want to learn to never give up.

Now there are 6 Rs. I hope I can learn them all.

Click to read => Helicopter versus duct tape parenting.

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