How I Teach My Son About His Culture & Heritage | The Irish Edition ♥

 If you didn't know already my son is tri-national. I am, of course, Irish and he was born in Ireland. His father was born and raised in South Africa but comes from a Polish family, so our son has a whole host of culture and heritage to embrace from his three nationalities. Although Jacek's family are Polish he classes himself as being South African, he's knowledgeable in South African history, is interested in the politics and loves everything about his home country, however, he is fluent in Polish and loves learning about the homeland of his family so he has a lot to teach our son about these two countries. I have taken on the responsibility of teaching our son all about Ireland and the Irish history and culture, even though Jacek is probably more knowledgeable about all landmarks here as he's visited a fair amount of them! It's very important for us to teach our son about where he comes from, the history of where his ancestors came from and help him to embrace the three nationalities which he possesses. 

 Ever since he was a baby we've taken our son on days out to many Irish landmarks and castles. He's seen more of Ireland in less than two years than I did in twenty! He has so far been to Cork, Clare, Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny. He's been to Bunratty, Blarney, Barryscourt, Desmond and Kilkenny Castle. He's also been to Reginald's Tower and the medieval museum in Waterford and Charles Fort in Kinsale. We have plans to take him to visit more scenic places and heritage sites around Ireland and more castles throughout the summer.

 Tyler Lee is still quite young so the biggest resource I use to teach him about Irish culture is books. I love to read him Irish fairy tales and legends for his bedtime stories and he actually loves to listen to them too, he's as quite as a mouse, laying in his bed when I'm reading to him. The books which I'm especially fond of reading to him at the moment are The O' Brien Book of Irish Fairy Tales & Legends, Pocket Irish Legends and Irish Fairy Tales, the cover of the last being my absolute favourite as a lover of rainbows. Irish legends and fairy tales can be quite sad but I loved these stories as a child so it's lovely to be able to read them to my own son. I hope he loves them just as much as I do. He also has a little picture book called How To Be A Viking which is great for teaching him about the Viking invasion of Ireland. The newest addition to his Irish library is Leabhar Mór na bhFocal Gaeilge which is an amazing book for learning the Irish language. It has pictures of so many things and the Irish word for it written under it. I've actually been using this book to teach Jacek a little bit of Irish too. I think this book will be a great resource for teaching him Irish.

 I got him a little Viking hat to add to his dressing up box, I think it'll be a fun prop for him when he's a bit older and is interested in learning about the Viking era in Irish history - I know Jacek has plans to bring him to Dublinia, the Viking museum in Dublin one day. Of course, no Irish child's dressing up box would be complete without a little leprechaun hat and I picked up this sweet little headband version for Tyler Lee for Saint Patrick's Day last year, he actually loves wearing it and it's nice to have paddy-whackery things like this purely for teaching him about leprechauns and the colour green.

Having a little toddler I love dressing him up in adorable outfits and the newest additions to his wardrobe are these super sweet Irish themed pullovers from Funny Monkey. He has the Little Viking pullover to match his dressing up hat and I love the bright yellow colour. He also has the Maith an Buachaill pullover which is good boy in Gaeilge, I love it! The light blue colour is gorgeous and perfect for spring time. I love having these Irish themed pullovers as part of his wardrobe, they're so fun, bright and great for a little Irish boy to be sporting.

Finally, no Irish child's room would be complete without an Irish themed teddy. This is Paddy, Tyler Lee's gift from mine and Jacek's trip to Dublin earlier in the month and he loves him. He's particularly interested in his pea cap. It's lovely that he has a little shamrock on there too.

These are just some of things I've picked up to teach my son about the Irish side of his heritage. I think they're all rather sweet, especially for a little toddler. I have no doubt that I'll pick up some other things, especially more books, along the way as he grows up. I also have a tin whistle for him but to be honest I can't stand the sound of him tooting it around the house constantly so it's tucked away for safe keeping until he can learn a tune! It's so nice to have these things around his room to help him learn some things about Ireland and some words as Gaeilge (in Irish) too.

How do you teach your child about their culture and heritage?