How much culture is too much? Someone asked me to comment on this a few weeks ago and I took some time to really think about it before I answered. I’ve written several posts on it, but I can’t remember where I put them all. There isn’t a great answer because a lot of it depends on who you ask.

There is a group of Korean adoptees who believe that their culture was stolen from them when they were adopted. They obviously would have liked to have more contact with their culture. There is a group (like my sister) who wants no contact with Korean culture and there is a middle group (like me) who likes to learn about it, but doesn’t claim it. Of course, there are Korean adoptees who fall in the middle of these three options too.

So, I’m back to the fact that it is our responsibility as parents of Korean adoptees to listen to our children. When they are young, we don’t know where they’re going to fall. I’m doing my best to make sure my son’s exposed (even though he has no clue what I’m doing) at an early age. He may or may not thank me for that when he gets older. It’s a gamble.

Awhile back, I wrote a post where I detailed the three types of Korean adoptees that I know – the sponge, the interested observer and the all-American kid.

Link: Teaching Your Child About Korean Culture

The short answer is that we don’t know how much is too much or how much is not enough. I’ve written about it before in several posts (that I can't find right now). I will continue to drag my family to Korean picnics, new year parties, cultural events, etc… until they rebel against me or start asking to go on their own.

I do think that in the early years, you can place some of your energy into learning to be a parent and not worry that every moment of the day is full of Korea. Personally, I don’t find it necessary to have a Korean event on every weekend. However, my son doesn’t really seem to care if people don’t look like him, though I know some young children are already feeling the differences. My son seems to be just as comfortable in a room full of Caucasian people as he is in a room full of Asian people. Perhaps, in the long run, this is what is most important - that he feels comfortable going in whatever direction he chooses go.

Introduce the Korean culture to your adoptees, but let them make the final choice. That is my round about answer to the question.