Exploring Beautiful Cultures Around the World, Culture Kids Podcast

Links from this Episode:

• Culture Kids Podcast Website 
• Culture Kids on Spotify  
• Culture Kids on Apple Podcasts 
• Global Snack Attack! Tasty Treats From Around the World Episode
• Friendly Podcast Guide Instagram – Tag us to enter the Giveaway!

Kristen and Asher are the mom and son duo behind Culture Kids. This is how they describe their show. Are you ready for an exciting adventure around the world? Come join Kristen and Asher as we explore the world’s most fascinating landmarks, cuisines, cultural practices, and so much more. It’s time to expand our imagination and become globe trottin’ explorers in the comfort of our own homes. The length of each episode is about 15 minutes.

100th Episode Giveaway 

This week we’re celebrating 100 episodes. Thursday’s episode will actually be the 100th episode and I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to celebrate. It’s easy to enter, all you have to do is hop on Instagram and talk about why you love podcasts and how you use the Friendly Podcast Guide in your life. Tag the Friendly Podcast Guide so that I can know that you did it. If you have a private account, then just DM me a screenshot of your story or post so that I can make sure you’re in the drawing to win the gift card.

I can’t wait to hear about all of the reasons you all love podcasts and how you use FPG in your life. I’ll be announcing the winner next week on June 29th, so make sure to talk about the show before the 29th. 

Mother and Son Duo

My name is Kristen, I co-produce the podcast with my son Asher, who’s turning six this summer. We live in Los Angeles and we are Korean American.

When I was little, my family and I immigrated from South Korea. Growing up as a Korean American immigrant I always felt very shy and embarrassed about sharing my cultural traditions, especially when it came to things like food or speaking the language.

Childhood Experiences and Impact

Honestly, and it’s sad to say, I did face some minor bullying and kids making fun of my culture. Over time instead of rising up to the challenge to find confidence and pride in my differences, like most immigrants we grew up with, we tried to hide that part of our identity.

Now that I look back and have my own two children I want to help every child, no matter where they’re from, even if they don’t identify themselves with a certain culture, to feel like they all have something unique and different about them. That’s what makes the world so interesting.

We created this podcast with the mission to foster curiosity and passion for culture and geography, and for kids to have a sense of adventure. Children should want to go explore around the world. There’s so many studies out there saying that when children are exposed to different cultures, languages and traditions, it helps them to become empathetic leaders, creators and innovators. 

In every episode we try to stress the idea that every person and every family is different, and that’s okay. 

We are also very mindful about not trying to push travel or the idea of traveling across the world. That’s not possible for most families. We always emphasize the idea of using your great big imagination. You can find adventure at home or we can find adventure through friends that speak different languages. Eating different foods from around the world can be an adventure. That’s another important mission that we try to keep in mind through each episode.

Sparking Curiosity Around the World 

I think curiosity is so important.  Every episode is less than 15 minutes so we try to plant a seed of curiosity into whatever topic we talk about. We cover a range of topics such as Lunar New Year for South Korea, or we’ve done episodes on Texas Barbecue.  I do plan to focus a bit more on the culture of the United States of America in the future. I want to look at how every one of the 50 states has their own thing whether thats their own food or music.  

Another goal is that I want children to feel like there’s a big world out there and that it’s okay to be different. No matter what that difference is, it doesn’t even have to be culture focused. Every family celebrates holidays differently, and I want them to be able to come to school and be excited to discuss it. Children should want to learn about their peers and how they do things in their family. 

I really think that would solve so many problems that we have in the world. If instead of presenting our differences in a divisive way, what if we do it in a way where we’re excited to share it? If others are curious and understanding of our differences, what would that world look like for our children? 

We also make sure that Asher expresses his thoughts on things. We teach him that it’s okay if you don’t like something. We always say, try a new food once. If you don’t like it, that’s okay. If how you celebrate something is different, that’s okay. too. 

A Safe and Accepting Place

The word that I always try to focus on for our podcast is safe and warm. I want it to be nurturing.  I always try to keep that in mind when we pick our music and most importantly the language we use. Children will not learn and open their minds and their hearts if they feel like they’re not in a safe space. 

Even things like tone of voice, that’s huge. Along with the wording that we use and the music. I want to create a vibe for children where they feel really nurtured and that whatever they want to bring to the table, any differences, they are welcome here.

One of the things that I work with Asher and my daughter is that everyone’s going to be different. Every person is going to say something different and you might not know what they’re talking about or agree with and that is okay. 

When we have guests or we’re talking about a certain viewpoint, Asher will say oh, that’s not how we do it in our family, we do this. I tell him, it’s okay, thank you for sharing that. It is very important to us that these conversations are done in a warm, welcoming, safe space.

Connect with Culture Podcast

Culture Kids Podcast can be found on our website which is linked above or really anywhere you can get your podcasts.

We’re listed in pretty much every directory available. Our Instagram page is Culture Kids Podcast. We’re going to start launching some social media marketing efforts soon. You’ll see behind the scenes footage and fun graphics. 

Snacks Around the World 

We did a two-part episode about different snacks around the world which is one of my favorites. A bunch of our friends and colleagues left voicemails about how they ate their childhood snacks. 

Some were traditional cultural and some weren’t. It was cool seeing how different people eat. Sometimes it was something simple like grilled cheese. One of my friends left a voicemail about New York City and how to order a bacon, egg and cheese on a roll in a New York City bodega. That is New York City culture. 

That was the underlying message that we talked about is that everybody has something different and unique to share. That was a very fun episode to do. We had so much content that we made it into two separate episodes.

All Ages Can Tune In

When we write out things for the podcast, I always say its ages four to ten. I’ve been told it’s for all ages. 

I have a three year old also so I want to make sure that it’s comfortable and warm and inviting for her. We don’t add any content that is too out there. Sometimes there are lines that only adults are going to understand and that’s okay. Asher will later ask about it and we’ll have discussions. There’s a lot of information included on the podcast. We’ve done an episode on truffles. We talked about truffles from Italy and various parts of Europe. I think everybody has something that they can learn. I purposely picked topics where I feel like adults will be interested in too.

Be a Part of the Podcast 

The community is growing and we do a lot of audience engagement. If you want to send us your birthday, we’ll do birthday shout outs. That’s been very popular and fun. that’s fun. We want audience engagement in that. If there’s something special about your family that you would like to share. 

We’re collecting information right now for an episode we’re going to release at the end of June about how different families celebrate their birthdays around the world. There’s so many families where there are mixed races and mixed traditions where they don’t celebrate a certain cultural tradition. If you have a way where it’s really special to your family that’s been passed down from generations we’d love to feature that because that’s what this is all about.