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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America VOL. XLIV OCTOBER 1987 Editor: Marta Baczynsky WHAT WE WOULD LIKE FOR OUR CHILDREN One of the primary worries of our community in dias pora is how to insure that the essense of Ukrainianism be passed on to the next generations, to those born outside the boundaries of Ukraine. Families which are concerned about this, want their children to grow up with the awareness of national pride, with the knowl edge of their heritage and the Ukrainian language, in addition to others. The Ukrainian language is the prim ary resource which helps to know and understand our culture. This subject presents numerous difficulties that are often discussed in youth organizations, in Ukrainian schools and among private individuals. There are also successes stories in many families which can serve as examples for others. The following interview with a mother of two child ren is about the successful aspects of the above problem. Mrs. N. K. is a professional woman, has a Ph.D., and is a mother of two young adults, still in college and with a fluent use of the Ukrainian lanugage. Q: Was it difficult to achieve this state? A: From the perspective of time it may seem difficult, but actually through the formative 18 years of a young persons life it was not particularly difficult. One only had to be aware of what was to be achieved. Q: What was your objective? A: Both my husband and I fully realized as to why we left our homeland — and that was because we could not be Ukrainians in the full and true sense. We all know what are and what were the obstacles. We did not want the sacrifices of our fathers and the loss of our home land to become meaningless. We wanted our immigra tion to stand on a different plane than that of people who came from other countries to find better living conditions or to make money. Q: In other words, you did not want to be like these people. A: Yes, we did not want to be like those whose priority was to assimilate and to make a fortune. Q: What was your plan in raising your children? A: We knew what we wanted. We wanted them to be fluent in two languages and to have a sound foundation of these two cultures. We did this for two reasons —first was the psychological tie with Ukrianianism; the second was intellectual. Children who are fluent in two lan guages can develop the process of logical thinking with greater ease, from mathematics to logic and to other languages. This also helps them in the learning process in other subjects. This is a fact proven through many studies. Q: Why did you choose the Ukrainian language as the primary language? A: The first reason is psychological. The second is lin guistic. The Ukrainian language is almost phonetical. An average three of four year old can easily learn to read Ukrainian. When a child is four eyars old he or she can master the latin alphabet in a few weeks. Q: What if the child does not want to read? A: This means that the parents are not sure what they want for their child. If they want to help develop and stimulate a young mind, then every day there will be time made for a book. Q: Even for the very young? A: Particularly for the infants. When a child is a few months old, before it even is aware of anything — in a close, warm contanct with the parent, take a book and read or sing to the child and this will later be associated with pleasant feelings. Q: How long, until a child can read by itself? A: Until the child is about six years old. This can be stopped sooner or later, depending on the child. It is important to establish an atmospher for reading. The parents themselves are readers or they read to the child. If the parents like to read and love and respect books, if books are given as gifts, then children will also follow suit. Q: How do you start on the second language? A: We read a story to our children, once in Ukrainian and once in English — but we really did not read it, only translated it. Intitially, the children heard only the Ukrainian text, but later when they had heard the story 22 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 1987 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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