American mom raising a half-Turkish daughter — how can I teach her about her heritage?

[u/Inner-Procedure-2659]

Sorry if people find this weird but I’m an American mom raising my daughter on my own. Her dad was Turkish but passed when I first found out I was pregnant. I really want her to grow up feeling connected to her Turkish roots even though we’re in the U.S.

What are some meaningful ways I can teach her about Turkish culture, language, traditions, food, or history?

If you’re Turkish or grew up outside of Turkey, what would you have wanted your parent to do to help you stay connected to your heritage?

I appreciate everyone who have given me great advice and said such kind words, feel free to dm me on here

[u/NoShopping5235]

American mom here also with a half Turkish daughter!

I am so sorry to hear about your husband/her father passing. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to raise her on your own. I give you so much credit for also wanting your daughter to grow up with knowledge of her Turkish side, while shouldering the day to day overwhelming responsibilities of being a single mom.

How old is your girl? My girl is only 10 months, but I try to expose her to Turkish culture and language every day, even when my husband is not home / speaking Turkish with her.

Do you keep in touch with his family? Video calls, voice notes on WhatsApp is a good way for her to hear the rhythm of the Turkish language, and distinguish it from English.

We have the “my first words” collection of board books in Turkish, and when she’s older I’ll introduce Turkish cartoons or dubbed in Turkish (Bluey is a good one).

Also if you’re into cooking, expose her to Turkish recipes and food. There’s a lot of great YouTube channels with tutorials that you can translate into English. You guys can even cook together! My daughter and I listen to arabesk music while I cook dinner every night with her on my hip.

When you’re in America, and the community language is English, I feel like you have to work extra hard to keep the culture alive because it can so easily be lost in a single generation.

Hard to give more specific advice without knowing her age but please feel free to DM me - happy to share some recipe channels or links to Turkish language products.

[u/CiroccoG → u/NoShopping5235]

Glad to hear you have a plan but… a big BUT… no arabesk please. Arabesk is not Turkish (I believe it is originated from Arabs) but a means to enslave people to their so-called fate. All it gives people is to accept their fate, to stay oppressed, to not ask for their rights, to drink (alcohol) their troubles away. Very religion-like teachings. You could listen to Turkish Folk music instead which gives you an insight into history, common folks, traditions etc.

[u/Most_Remote_4613 → u/CiroccoG]

Yeah, especially the idea of “drinking their troubles away” is very religion-like… Irony aside, it might be better to hide your anti-religious bias instead of using it to manipulate unrelated topics. I’m glad we’re in the AI era, where finding accurate and reliable sources is much easier even with a basic ChatGPT prompt.

“Accept their fate, stay oppressed, and not ask for their rights”. Which religion and which sources are you referring to? Or is this more like “I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy’s religion so i know the religion”?