The other day I was talking to our daughter’s teacher and she said something that really stuck with me.
She told me how much she loves how excited Savanna gets knowing that her teacher is even the tiniest bit Samoan.
Then she said,
“She’s so proud of her culture. She even did a Samoan dance in front of the whole class for Harmony Day.”
I honestly had no idea 😂
Savanna hadn’t even told us.
So when I asked her about it, she admitted that yep, she’d stood up in front of her whole class while her teacher found a random Samoan song on YouTube for her to dance to.!
My first thought was…
Where does this girl even get her confidence from?! 😂
But then it really hit me.
She wasn’t worried about what everyone else would think (considering she’s the only Polynesian student in her class).
She wasn’t embarrassed.
She was excited to share that part of herself.
She was proud to be Samoan.
And I remember thinking…
This is exactly what we’ve always wanted for our kids.
My husband and I were both raised in New Zealand.
Growing up there, Polynesian culture felt much more present in everyday life. In the people around us, the food, the shops, our families and our communities.
Then we moved to Australia and started raising our own family here.
That’s when we became more aware that our children’s experience might look different to ours.
There may be times they’re one of only a few Polynesian kids in the room. They aren’t necessarily going to grow up surrounded by the same things we were.
We wanted culture to feel familiar to them from the beginning, not only during celebrations, language weeks or special occasions, but as a normal part of their lives.
It started with one blanket.
When our son was born in 2017, we had a generic baby blue blanket ready for his announcement photo.
But something just felt like it was missing.
We ended up wrapping him in a lavalava instead.
Immediately, it felt different.
It felt like us. We felt proud.!
Two years later, when I was pregnant with our daughter, we wanted to do the same for her.
I started searching for a Pasifika-inspired baby blanket. I wanted something that represented our culture, but was also soft, modern and something I’d genuinely love and use every day.
We searched and searched but couldn’t find what we had pictured.
So we decided to create our own.
We made a soft pink Pasifika-inspired baby blanket for our daughter’s announcement photo.
It was simply something we wanted for our own baby.
We had no idea that one little blanket would become the beginning of something so much bigger.
That blanket became the beginning of Polybubs.
As Polybubs grew, so did the reason behind it.
We wanted our kids to recognise their culture when they saw it.
I love seeing those little moments happen now.
Savanna came home from school excited one day because she’d noticed her Australian teacher wearing a shirt with Samoan patterns (A Eveni shirt).
She said to him, “Hey, that’s Samoan patterns!”
And he told her, “Yes, my wife is Samoan.”
It might seem like such a small thing, but I love that she noticed.
She recognised it instantly.
That’s what we’ve always wanted for our kids.
To see their culture, get excited about it, and proudly say,
“That’s Samoan.”
“That’s Polynesian.”
“That’s us.”
Even in moments like these, as parents we still question whether we’re doing enough, especially when raising children in the diaspora.
Am I teaching them enough?
Am I teaching them the right way?!
Will they feel confident enough to stand tall when questioned about their culture?
We’re still learning too.
But one thing I’ve realised is that our kids don’t need to know everything before they can be proud of who they are.
The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is confidence.
Confidence to say where they’re from. To be proud of it. And to stay curious enough to keep learning as they grow.
That’s what we hope Polybubs can be a small part of.
Our products aren’t here to replace the traditional or ceremonial parts of our culture that are so important ♥️
They’re simply another way to make culture part of our children’s everyday lives, from the blanket they’re wrapped in as a newborn to the mat they play on as they grow.
And then I think about Savanna.
That conversation with her teacher brought everything full circle for me.
Savanna didn’t stand up in front of her class because she knew everything about being Samoan.
She stood up because she was proud to be Samoan.
Her teacher put on a song, and she danced.
No hesitation.
And that’s exactly what we want for our children.
Wherever they grow up and whatever their journey with culture looks like, we want them to feel confident saying exactly who they are.
Savanna did.
She just knew.
And I hope she always does 🤎
Raising the next generation of proud Pasifika kids.