Introducing:
A Monday Morning Guest Post in Multicultural Mothering
As a Zambian of Indian descent married to M, French of Lebanese heritage now living in China, Multicultural and as an extension Multilingual parenting, is our reality. Questions that arise out of this scenario are always on my mind. How will L and R deal with so much moving around? Will there be a place they can call home? They “speak” three languages. Their grandparents and other family are all around the world. How will they cope?
I stumbled upon a well-written book review of Okasaan: Adventures of Multicultural Mothering by an author living in Thailand, Avery Fischer Udagawa. Here is an excerpt from Introductions, the first piece in her column, Four Worlds:
Even when we go “home” (Japan for my husband, America for me), we must tote our other worlds with us–for in Japan our preschooler tries out “I’m hungry” in Thai to see if the words still work; in Kansas she misses Japanese TV characters. In Thailand she dearly misses Grandma, Grandpa, Obaachan, and Ojiichan. By virtue of her upbringing she will always know the pull of places and people not nearby, of ideas not in the air. Yet we commit to keeping her loves close, to showing that many parts can make a whole.
These articles were the final push for me to get moving on a project that I’ve had on my mind for a while. I invited mum friends of mine to Guest Post about their experiences, by default in Multicultural and Multilingual Mothering. I was surprised when I realised that each one of them is in this boat, and yet we all go through feelings of isolation from it. I was thrilled by the quick, positive response.
Many of the friends who agreed to Guest Post here, every Monday morning, don’t have blogs of their own. I miss their presence in BlogWorld. This is my way of getting their thoughts and opinions out. Who knows, they might even start a blog of their own!
In the past women might have shared advice and stories about mothering while hanging up laundry in their backyards. Today, regardless of whether mum is back at work or she’s taking care of the kids full-time, loading the dryer many times a day, we can communicate, discuss our experiences, and support each other over the internet.
Miles apart, yet not. I hope you can drop by on Mondays, and leave us your thoughts. If you want to guest post here, send me an email – nat dot devalia at gmail dot com
Welcome to our series: A Monday Morning Guest Post in Multicultural Mothering.
Natasha Devalia 
Love the idea, and have read Lish’s. Glad that blogging can bring these mothers together, across the continents. Speaking of which, we are seriously considering Thailand for our next move.
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Yeah, it’s pretty cool to have mum friends on my blog!
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Natasha,
Thank you for mentioning my column Four Worlds and review of Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering at Literary Mama (www.literarymama.com). Since starting the column, I have been thrilled to hear from fellow multicultural mothers such as yourself, and I will be excited to read the posts in your Monday series. Multicultural moms, unite!
Avery Fischer Udagawa
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Hi Avery,
Thanks for dropping by and for the comment. I was happy when I came across your column and book review. Glad you’ll join us every Monday morning!
N
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What a fantastic idea! I look forward to reading more.
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Thanks. see you again!
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I like the idea of sharing over the blog as opposed to over the laundry line. As odd as it seems now that I have had the thought, I had never considered using blogs to form community, but thought of them more as a place to gather information, not to share.
And, happily, I now have my idea for my guest post. I am excited to share it, and pleased that your guesting posting project has encouraged me to reflect more deeply on what would have otherwise been a minor passing thought.
Thanks for the motivation!
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Hey Kalley,
This blogging thing is a pretty cool way to share, relate, and learn from others, for sure.
Glad you agreed to join me on this Guest Post project. Can’t wait to read your story!
N
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