Raising a NRI child

It's a delicate balance raising a child in a foreign land. On one hand, you want him to feel part of the society he is growing up in...you don't want him to be that outsider looking in. On the other hand, you want him to know his roots enough to know what his native culture is about...you don't want him to feel embarrassed or burdened by his roots. There are so many little incidents where I'm not sure how I should react to little K on these issues. 

My niece, who is older than K & growing up in the US, got challenged (& felt ridiculed) by her friends at school about how she belongs to a religion that worships cows, and she wasn't equipped to handle those challenges. Her dad then got himself a "Hinduism for Dummies" & read up on their religion while telling her she was free to believe (or not to) in what she was reading. I love this story because my niece then went back to school & made a presentation on what she understood the Hindu religious beliefs were & busted a whole lot of stereotypes. 

For kids, being "cool" is increasingly being defined for them by media. And I suppose to teach them that theres a coolness factor in being proudly different from the herd, is a challenge...not just for NRI parents.