Anonymous wrote:I was supposed to go to my son's school for Diwali and he asked me not to, saying he doesn't want to talk about being Indian. Is this normal for an 8yo...? Other parents have come for Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah, etc... He said he would rather me come for Halloween (I'm not, the school has that well covered).

Is is true that you celebrate a (cow) poop war to end Diwali? 🤮

Anonymous wrote:It sucks that Diwali has coincided with Halloween the past two years. It has really ruined it for my family.

But also, in Fairfax County where I live, there is a lot of racism against Indians. So that may be why your child is so hesitant.

What? This is hard to believe, there’s a ton of Indians in Fairfax. They don’t even need to go outside of their ethnic group for friends since there are so many.

Around that age my kids stopped having me come into class to share about holidays (we're Jewish) and instead they lead the sharing during a classroom circle/community time. They'd bring in a menorah for example to tell the class about Chanukah. Maybe he'd be interested in this?

Anonymous wrote:I was supposed to go to my son's school for Diwali and he asked me not to, saying he doesn't want to talk about being Indian. Is this normal for an 8yo...? Other parents have come for Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah, etc... He said he would rather me come for Halloween (I'm not, the school has that well covered).

It's normal. I think kids are getting tired of being defined by their demographics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indians are outcasts at my sons school

Why?

Asians are typecast and stereotyped by other racial groups. You can say the same of AA and Hispanic culture but it's a bit nuanced. If you're not Asian, you probably wouldn't understand. Just as an example, AAPI month is barely mentioned much less celebrated at most schools while many (even primarily white) schools will go out of their way to promote every other ethnic group's "month."

To further expound in this... If a school doesn't celebrate Asians as a normal course of the school year, every year (like they do with other groups, even groups such as sped and lgbtq), having events like this just become exotic spectacles that highlight how different (i.e., strange and different for the viewers) people who participate are. Asian kids don't want this warped attention. These types of events only feel welcoming when there is a large percentage of Asian students as some pp mentioned.