I’m American so I’m fat.

I love my kids, I really do. But they sometimes frustrate the hell outta me! They are SO British. Apparently last night at dinner was ‘bash the American at the table’ night. I got accused of talking funny – not British but not American either. I got teased for being a ‘foreigner’ and had to argue my case for living in this country and tried to prove to them that I was not the only American sitting at the table. And I got made fun of for always talking about tumble dryers and grocery stores (OK OK, yes I am guilty of that). However, I don’t think I deserve to be totally obliterated just for not being British.

To top it off, my four year old shouted out, “Raise your hand if you’re American.” So I did (and was surprised that there weren’t more hands raised other than only mine). Then he pointed at me and yelled, “Ha ha you’re FAT!” My twelve year old son thought this was hilarious and began to laugh and point at me too. Lovely.

It was all a bit of fun and I don’t actually mind that much, but it does remind me of how British they are and the concept of being American is completely foreign to them. The two older ones understand that they are half American simply because they have a British passport and an American one. So that’s proof. However, actually being half American is something they’ve never really experienced yet. They get a glimpse of it and love visiting America and they do love some of the things I’ve introduced into their lives that are not British but that they still like. And there are moments when I look at them and feel yes they are British but they are more than that, and they’re proud to be half American too. This mostly comes from my daughter who is interested (not all the time) in being American and doesn’t hate everything American I ‘force’ upon them.

It is interesting and it is my hope that if I keep true to myself and offer them a life which includes both cultures, then they will grow up being both British and American. Some day!

One of the most common things that the parents I interviewed for my book, Bringing Up Brits, told me was that they hoped their children would grow up proud to be Polish, or proud to be Japanese…  or Australian, or Chinese, or German, or Indonesian, or Romanian, or Swedish etc etc, in addition to being British. No matter where we hail from, this desire for our children who we are bringing up in Britain remains the same.

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Meghan Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs. She is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd.  And, she is an award winning expat blogger.