Friday 29 March 2024

My family is different from yours

How do you explain to a child why his skin is not the same colour as yours?

Is it possible for them to understand why some children have two Daddies (or two Mummies)?

Or why they (or their friends) are being raised by a single parent and why some children have brothers and sisters from different mothers/fathers?

These are not easy questions to answer, and yet in this ever-changing world where there is more than one type of family, Merlin Publishers have taken the brave step of tackling this delicate issue by buying the rights to a children’s book which was originally published in French, called Camille veut une nouvelle famille*.

Translated into Maltese by Clare Azzopardi it has become Kamilla tixtieq familja gdida. It is the story of a young hedgehog who goes in search of the ideal family because she is feeling peeved at the lack of attention from her own parents and sister.   During her journey she encounters a variety of families and learns a valuable life lesson.

Whatever our own personal feelings may be, anyone raising children these days will find that in a typical classroom, there are bound to be other kids who do not come from a traditional nuclear family.   Or perhaps it is your own child who is having to deal with “feeling different”  to his friends.  That is why this well-written and carefully explained book is quite remarkable in the way it uses different types of animals to enable children to understand today’s realities.

Some might feel that children should not have to bother their heads about these complex relationship issues, or that such a book will “put ideas into their heads”. They need not worry about that:  even taken at face value as a story about animals, this book is mostly about acceptance and tolerance of others, no matter who they are. It can be used to teach children not only about various family structures but also about different races and religions which is certainly a reality Malta deals with every day.

Today’s children are growing up in a radically different Malta to that which many of us grew up in, and it is with intelligent books like this that we can help to ensure they learn to have a compassionate, understanding approach to those who are not like them. And that can only be a good thing.

*Written by Yann Walcker and illustrated by Mylène Rigaudie 

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