Chris and I visited the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) once many years ago pre-Kaia. back then, it was still a pretty new museum, but it was quite extensive in its story telling and artifacts from Chinese people all over the world making a path into the U.S. I follow MOCA on social media, and I started thinking about visiting them again after Kaia was born, as they hold a number of family/kid-centered events throughout the year for holidays like Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and Lunar New Year. This year, I finally took Kaia to MOCA for their Mid-Autumn Moon Festival family event; it helped that a handful of her classmates from kindergarten and their families were also there. All the adults tag-teamed on watching the kids to make sure we knew where they were and were playing nicely and safely. I got to meet some new parents for the first time there, so it was a great mix of socializing, cultural immersion, and pure kid fun.

I was really happy with how the event turned out: it helps that MOCA had a lot of corporate sponsors, so on top of having their own staff, they had a whole army of corporate volunteers helping out with everything from ticketing to manning all the various kids’ activities. I lost track of the number of hands-on activities there were: it spanned from fake “play” clay mooncake making, real snow mooncake making (fillings included red bean, lotus paste, and green bean paste), Chinese calligraphy, drawing, painting, Chinese potion making (out of different colored sand), card making, and glitter wand making. They also had a well-known Chinese kids’ book author come and do a reading while marketing and selling her books, generous samples of (uncaffeinated) Asian-inspired tisanes/teas and mooncakes, several professional musicians play traditional Chinese instruments like the guzheng, and even a very well done shadow puppet show depicting the story behind the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival in China, which was run by a Chinese shadow puppet company that hand makes all their puppets. I am honestly not sure what Kaia loved more: all the endless activities and things to touch and see, or the together-time with some of her very favorite school friends.

While the parents all tag-teamed with watching over the kids to ensure everyone was looked after, one of the parents told me she’d proactively save us all seats for the much-awaited shadow puppet show — in the front row, no less. So as she did this and I kept track of time, I was watching Kaia and her two kids interact and play. One of them was curious about another library section that had lots of toys, so she proactively came up to me to ask my permission if she could go check out the books. I was shocked: she barely knew me, but she was already asking me for my permission. Then when all three went to the library area, they studiously read the books until I told them (in Chinese) that it was time to get ready to clean up and go to the performance. As if on cue, they all cleaned up, neatly put the books back on the shelf, and then walked with me, in a straight line across, into the little theater; there wasn’t a peep of objection or protest. I thought to myself; this is freaking amazing. WHO ARE THESE KIDS?!

They say that once school starts, peers play a huge influence on a child, far more than a parent does. As someone who was obviously once a kid, I am very, very aware of this. So, it’s important for us as parents to be aware of who our kids are spending time with and considering their friends. All I have to say is: these are the types of friends I need Kaia to have!