Wednesday, July 26, 2006

NewbieDad’s APA Parenting Meme

Since I'm pretty new to this party, I'm adding my thoughts to this meme.

1. I am:
Mostly Filipino, some Texan, with just a dash of Spanish and German.

2. My kid is:
Add the above, mix well with a California gal whose parents are from Kentucky, and sprinkle a wee bit luck o’ the Irish. Bake for 9 months, add 40+ hours of labor and you get Aidan Miller Orias or O’Rias on St. Patty’s Day.

3. I first realized I was APA when:
Someone called me a “wetback” when I was a little kid and I had to ask about it.

4. I am often confused for:
Mexican and sometimes Native American.

5. The family tradition I most want to pass on is:
Big family get togethers with lots and lots of laughter, love and most importantly great food.

6. The family tradition I least want to pass on is:
Keeping things from each other.

7. My child's first word in English was:
Ai-eeee!

8. My child's first non-English word was:
Ai-eeee! But screamed with a very heavy American accent.

9. The non-English word/phrase most used in my home is:
Ano – What in Tagalog. But also used to signify “huh?” and “WTF!”

10. One thing I love about being an APA parent is:
Looking forward to teaching my son to not only respect, embrace and celebrate his multi-cultural heritage, but that of others.

11. One thing I hate about being an APA parent is:
Is my son going to be too Asian for his White friends and too White for his Asian friends?

12. The best thing about being part of an APA family is:
We can laugh at ourselves, even though the cultural jokes may not be very PC.
“You might be a Filipino redneck if…”
“Top 10 Reasons why there will never be a Filipino-American US President…”

13. The worst thing about being part of an APA family is:
The silence can sometimes be deafening.

14. To me, being Asian Pacific American means:
Being able to participate in so many different cultural traditions and celebrations beyond my own.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

re: #11. Shouldn't be a problem here in SF, since there are so many asian and hapa kids running around. I hope my boy, who is definitely chinese-looking, will retain his asian looks. He has the double eyelids like his mum, and he always gets big smiles from the old asian folks walking the avenues so I feel he is really a part of the community here.
What concerned me was what I learned from my daughter---that kids in public schools as young as 2nd and 3rd grade have already self-segregated into groups based on ethnicity, or perceived ethnicity. Hopefully the wave of hapa kids will change that dynamic. Kid life is hard enough just being pigeonholed as a nerd/jock/cheerleader...

thisislarry said...

OK, I give, you GOTTA list those top 10 reasons....

Newbie Dad said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Newbie Dad said...

Alright, I've update the meme to include links to some joke pages on the web. Some of the content may be funny and some may be offensive.