Rural mums - how do you keep your dc's aware of the wider world?

[cashmeresox]

Hi there,

My 2 dc will be attending a brilliant local primary starting this sept and next. I have always travelled but my dh hasn't and I am really keen for my little ones to have a strong awareness of the wider world. Ideally they would have the chance to study for the International Baccalaureate but that just isn't a possibility. We love our rural life and the kids are having a great childhood in an old fashioned kind of way but I don't want them to never look beyond what we have got... Any suggestions for augmenting the state system with a flavour of internationalism?

We have quite a strong military police presence here.

BonsoirAnna

Great when it's possible and money no object. We all need to do what we can to broaden our DC horizons but many city children never leave their own 'comfort zone' and have never visited the country. Why is it worse for rural DC?

It's not good for city children never to leave the city, and it's not good for rural children never to leave the countryside.

However, city children have access to a much, much broader range of lifestyles and opportunities than rural children within striking distance of their homes. So their horizons are more easily broadened - provided their parents take them around and about in the city they live in.

When we lived in a town before, which was a bit grim, we escaped at every opportunity and so went abroad every year. But now that we live somewhere nice we dont feel the need to escape. For 2 summers now rather than go away we have stayed here and explored the local area and not felt like we are missing out. I wonder how many other people who live somewhere more rural also dont feel the need to go abroad which adds to the feeling that people are culturally unaware,

I also know from talking to the kids that there parents, grandparents and beyond are born and bred locally and they may go to uni but then come back. They joke that everyone is the village is related, and a lot of them are! Some of them are also reluctant to go that far away to university, they know life is good.

Yes Bonsoiranna. There are more museums, theatres, etc. in cities. But parents still need the time, and more importantly the money to take advantage of these things. There are few areas of England that are so rural that such facilities are more than a bus ride/car journey away.

I think parental income is more important re broadening horizons than where a child happens to live.

My biggest problems with DD (age 6) are traffic (she will still rarely just walk beside me in town) and her expectation that EVERYONE should be friendly!
She will walk past other children shouting "Hello" and getting dodgy looks wherever she goes and just doesn't understand the concept of people keeping themselves to themselves
If anyone has any cures I would gladly listen! Just don't tell me to go to London more- I hate the hustle bustle too!

Back to the OP
at this age
pick your books to include some multicultural picture books and maybe bi-lingual texts, pick toys/ games that reflect a range of ethnic backgrounds. Include non fiction in their books diet. Read a newspaper regularly and share some of the contents with your kids as you feel appropriate to their age.
I guess you have photos and maybe souvenious of your travels, share them with the dcs, If you have friend living else where, talk about them and share news and pics.

Our boy has cousins of various races who till recently were living overseas, he was quite happy to muck in with them when we did meet up as he has "known" them via pics and stories since before he can remember. His only comment on skin colour came when teh boys were all bare chested and he came with, "mummy, D same colour as me". Yes he is, was the adult reply and we all moved on to the next thing kids included.

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yes, traffic is a real problem for us too. And they're so 'free-range' - they want to run, hop and skip along, and that just doesn't work on town pavements when they're older than three.
Dh wants to move into town in 3 years' time when dd2 finishes primary, but dd1 (10) is horrified at the thought... don't think that'll last much longer though!

geekgirl - interesting what you say about the free range - my nephew does this too - running up the travelators at the supermarket the wrong way and walking on walls even though he's 10 - his mum doesnt mind either but he gets told off by people because in his hoody etc he looks more like a freerunner than a child doing childish thing iyswim.

Maybe rural children learn to adapt their behaviour for other people less because they just dont have to as much.

Mine learnt to negotiate traffic, pedestrian crossings, teenagers on skate boards, buses etc. on weekly visits to our local market towns. These skills also served them well when they visited other cities. London was a bit different because they drive like nutters far too fast. The underground was strange, (and scarey at first) but even my country bumpkins sorted it in the end. DD lives in London now and DS1 lives in Birmingham. So we can visit often and take advantage of all they have to offer. Both love the city life & travelling but both want to come nearer home when the time comes to raise their own DC.

I wasn't thinking about museums and theatres at all (and didn't mention them, if you read my posts). They are lovely, but far more important are the variety of different lifestyles and ways of earning your living that children who live in cities are exposed to.

"Maybe rural children learn to adapt their behaviour for other people less because they just dont have to as much."

I agree with this, and it can be a problem for rural people, not just children. My parents, who live in a very rural area (though have lived in many places in their lives, in England and abroad, rural and urban), think that they are very polite and considerate people, and in their own environment they are. But when they come to central Paris they take up too much space! They don't understand that everyone is in a hurry and that you cannot occupy as much time and space as in their usual rural environment.

Bon- aren't children at a rural primary exposed to different ways of earning a living any way. Not every one who lives in the sticks is well off, there may well be commuting city professionals, service industry workers, farm workers, landowners, self employed entrepreneurs and unemployed parents among their friends families.

I do give this thought.
We moved from central London to the countryside when the kids were small. It is much better for then in terms of green space and fresh air etc but they are not exposed to different cultures on a daily basis as they would have been in London.
One can, of course, tell them about other cultures but it's just not the same as getting on the tube and hearing all the different languages, seeing the skull caps, the burka, the turbans every single day.
Yes we vistit regularly, but it's not the same as having an Iranian family next door.
Maybe I'm overthinking it and giving myself a headache over nothing.

UniS - yes, of course there is variety of employment and lifestyles in the countryside (and there are jobs and lifestyles in the countryside that don't exist in cities) but I still think that there is a wider exposure in cities.

Where my parents live, even the plumbers and tilers have second homes in France . And the "very poor" have gardens and access to middle class funded village facilities.

I think the fact you're thinking about it means you're putting an effort into bringing up open minded children & so you're steps ahead of lots of other parents I see! I personally grew up in a town, but I'm now living in the country and I'm really looking forward to bringing up my children here - I think there is a lot to be learnt from a 'old fashioned' type of childhood, seeing nature up close. To keep open minds why not try to spend some time every year somewhere else so your kids get to have lots of different experiences - as a 'townie', I learnt so much from my summer holidays in the country when I was younger. Once they get a bit older encourage them to get involved in all the opportunities open to them - groups like scouts or guides are great for promoting new experiences

interesting posts. Thanks for the feedback. I guess what I was getting at was that for me it seems that helping my 2 dc to see the world as a very diverse place in terms of people and culture is more of a big deal when I don't have much on hand to refer to. Obviously tv helps! We don't really have a multi-cultural city within easy reach and it makes it even more of a big deal if I suddenly give the kids dollops of international culture - also it feels a bit patronising, to me, them and everyone else...
It has come up for me because I have been comparing notes with a friend whose child is aat an international school in Switerland. Other cultures are simply part of the day to day experience. Here a takeaway or a friend from a different ethnic community is a really exciting event!! I feel a bit awkward about it cos I was brought up to just take a variety of nationalities, colours, cultures etc for granted and my kids haven't got that. I guess it's a case of swings and roundabouts - at least my dc will find lots and lots of things to get excited about as they explore the world. And they can handle themselves in a field of cows...(which is probably handier than a sophisticated awareness of the diversity of culture on planet earth, at least at this age anyway) FWIW we love living in the country and I don't think my dc are especially deprived.

ps. loved the posts about country kids spatial awareness...my two think that escalators have escaped from some kind of play park and the free running hoodie! Thanks for the advice about bilingual and multi-cultural toys. I must be thick cos I hadn't thought of that in a real way.

What's wrong with saying someone has skin like chocolate? Chocolate is a nice thing, no? I have mousey brown hair (more of an insult to mice than to me ). I have eyes like coffee, too. I hate coffee and it still wouldn't bother me if you said so.