Monoracial Parents with Biracial Children
Monoracial Parents with Biracial Children
It’s very important that Monoracial parents know how to socialize their children in a biracial manner. Although, there are more children who are biracial in society, it is still not completely accepted in society today. Monoracial parents do not know what it feels like to be more than one race, so they may not understand what it is like to be a biracial child. Children need to be accepting of both of their racial identities. I feel as if many children who are biracial only identify themselves as one race.
The book discusses Barrack Obama as the first multiracial president of the United States. Barrack never seems to mention that indeed he is half white. He tends to refer to himself as just African American. I find this interesting in discussing this topic on parents of biracial children because knowing about his childhood surprises me that he does not usually address his white heritage. I remember learning that Barrack’s African American father left him when he was young and his Caucasian side of the family raised him. I wonder why this experience would not alter how he racially identifies himself. I think this situation relates well to the fact that many monoracial parents have difficulty socializing their children, and I think this was definitely the case for Barrack’s parents. If parents do not know how to properly socialize their biracial children, it confuses them as to how they should identify themselves. Also, I think that if children are not properly socialized they may think they need to choose one race instead of embracing both. I remember watching the show on MTV called True Life and one episode was about biracial teens. They were talking about how confused they were about their race and they were unsure how to identify themselves or what to say when asked what their race is. Monoracial parents need to racially socialize their biracial children at an early age to prevent race confusion later
It’s very important that Monoracial parents know how to socialize their children in a biracial manner. Although, there are more children who are biracial in society, it is still not completely accepted in society today. Monoracial parents do not know what it feels like to be more than one race, so they may not understand what it is like to be a biracial child. Children need to be accepting of both of their racial identities. I feel as if many children who are biracial only identify themselves as one race.
The book discusses Barrack Obama as the first multiracial president of the United States. Barrack never seems to mention that indeed he is half white. He tends to refer to himself as just African American. I find this interesting in discussing this topic on parents of biracial children because knowing about his childhood surprises me that he does not usually address his white heritage. I remember learning that Barrack’s African American father left him when he was young and his Caucasian side of the family raised him. I wonder why this experience would not alter how he racially identifies himself. I think this situation relates well to the fact that many monoracial parents have difficulty socializing their children, and I think this was definitely the case for Barrack’s parents. If parents do not know how to properly socialize their biracial children, it confuses them as to how they should identify themselves. Also, I think that if children are not properly socialized they may think they need to choose one race instead of embracing both. I remember watching the show on MTV called True Life and one episode was about biracial teens. They were talking about how confused they were about their race and they were unsure how to identify themselves or what to say when asked what their race is. Monoracial parents need to racially socialize their biracial children at an early age to prevent race confusion later
References: Nagayama Hall, G. C. (2002). Mental Health. In Multicultural Psychology (p. 161). Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.