Parenting of young children in mixed cultures: Stories of five mothers

Culture is the learned, shared, and inter-generationally transmitted values, beliefs and norms that guide the ways of living of people. However, the unprecedented globalization has led to an increasing number of intercultural relationships and global migration. What is it like to raise a young child in a transcultural family or in a different culture? How are different cultural expectations and practices of early education and development challenged and reconciled? This exploratory study follows the stories of five new mothers, who were former secondary school classmates in Hong Kong and are now married with Japanese, Singaporean, American and Hong Kong husbands and live with their toddlers in different parts of the world. In-depth interviews were employed with reference to the parenting styles of the couples as assessed by the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ) to understand the views and experiences of the mothers. The findings show how new family identities are formed through marriage and childrearing and highlight new opportunities in early education and development.