Parents fear children losing touch with home culture Immigrants are worried about a cultural gap emerging between themselves and the children they are raising in Ireland.
Noel Dowling, co-founder of Cultúr, a voluntary organisation which runs various projects aimed at helping to improve the lives of immigrants in the Navan area, said that they plan to set up weekend classes for migrant children in order to teach them more about the countries of their parents.
Dowling told Metro Eireann, “This initiative came directly out of our interaction with the immigrant community in the area.”
Noel continued, “A lot of immigrant parents are finding that once their kids start school they naturally begin to become more like the children around them. Then when they bring them to their country of origin they can feel quite alienated from their grandparents and other members of their family.”
Many of the parents intend ultimately to return home with their children. Dowling explains: “Immigrants often want their children to maintain a link with the country they came from because they often intend to go home at some stage.
“It would be extremely difficult for a child to settle into life in the country of their parents if they knew little of the language and culture. This is a huge fear for many immigrant parents.”
There is another area of tension between children and their immigrant parents. Once children start school their English language proficiency overtakes that of their parents: “Adults often have to lean on their children because the kids have better English,” Dowling says. “The parents are very aware that this can be quite problematic for the children but they often don’t have an alternative.”
Dowling’s organisation also runs free English-language classes for immigrants to help combat the problem but they cannot always cater to demand: “All our courses fill up quickly. We end up having to turn people away.”
Cultúr’s weekend classes for migrant children, which are due to begin at the end of September, will target one nationality at a time. It has not been confirmed which nationality will enrolled for first, but Dowling says it will probably be either Lithuanian or Latvian. Those interested in having their children attend can contact Noel Dowling on 087 7648789.
