What happens when kids visit India?
There is a saying in Gujarati that, “Jena ghar nu paani pive, tena jeva ja thayi javaay” which literally means you become like those whose water you are drinking.
Your environment has a major influence on your life.
You are a reflection of five people you spend the most time with. Especially young ones adopt very quickly to their environment and the best way to learn a language or culture is to immerse yourself in the day to day living, the way the natives do. If finances and your schedules allow it, take your children to India once every few years and allow them to be there long enough and be amongst the local children.
When young children see Gujarati language used on day to day basis or Gujarati music and songs being played in the shops and market places they pick up on it. They stay long enough to spend time with the kids in their neighborhood in Gujarat and learn the language first hand. They also appreciate the life they have. There is so much value in this experience.
Recently I was visiting my brother and I saw his two little kiddos singing and playing along this song. They had just come back from their trip of spending a month in India. This is a recent popular song about audi cars and a sister singing to his brother. The symbol for the car has four circles resembling “bangadi”(bangles) and four is “chaar” in Gujarati, thus the song “chaar chaar bangadi vaadi gaadi…”
Here is a link to the original song by Kinjal Dave