[Nyororin]

I personally plan to take it on my son`s cues.

In other words, if he shows no interest, I have no plan to push things. I have met too many children whose parents have forced English and non-Japanese culture on them. Most (actually all the children I`ve met) ended up hating all of it when they went to school and found that they were nothing like their peers - and couldn`t even speak the same language properly. That, on top of looking different? I don`t think so. Not going to happen in our case. Better for my son to just not know English than to outright hate and avoid it and me because of it.

So we only speak Japanese. We only really do normal Japanese things. IF my son later expresses an interest in learning to speak English - by all means I will teach him. If he doesn`t, well, we live in Japan and it really isn`t a necessity to life. I`m sure he`ll later become aware that I don`t quite look like everyone else - and when those questions come up I`ll introduce whatever traditions, etc, I feel are a benefit at the time.

I really think the key is;
1) where you plan to live for the rest of your life. If that plan eventually includes your native country, it`s going to be best to have the language and cultural skills to survive there.

In our case, we have absolutely no plans to leave Japan - in fact, my husband can`t speak English at all really - so for us any non-Japanese language or traditions are really not a necessity. Not that they`re a bad thing to have - they`re just not really needed.

And 2) How strongly you feel about your native culture and language. If you feel that you can`t truly connect to someone outside of your native language, or if you are not so skilled in your other language, it could be very important. Also, if your family had very strong traditions that you feel you need in your lifestyle.

In our case, US culture isn`t really going anywhere. My family didn`t really have any special traditions. I don`t really feel compelled to make new "US-style" family traditions JUST so that I can push them on my child.