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I have a young cousin who is Hispanic and white and he used to tell people "I'm not a Hispanic or a white! I'm an Alabaman!"
I think that race/ethnicity is something that is learned through parenting, it's probably best to just speak truthfully about it with children before they go to school because you never know what they may pick up from other kids or teachers.
I have a young cousin who is Hispanic and white and he used to tell people "I'm not a Hispanic or a white! I'm an Alabaman!"
I think that race/ethnicity is something that is learned through parenting, it's probably best to just speak truthfully about it with children before they go to school because you never know what they may pick up from other kids or teachers.
I tell my son he is half Swedish and half American. I think once I told him he was white for some reason, not sure why it came up. He looked at me and said, "Im not white ! People are not white thats just silly ".
Both of my kids were around three years old when they first commented on the color of people's skin. We just told them that people have different colors of skin and that it is okay.
I honestly don't know when my daughter became aware of race but I do know it was preschool when I realized she knew about race just had them all mixed up. We moved from NY to the middle of no where TN so I believe she saw the difference in NY but just got all the race's mixed up by name. She came home talking about her new friend, I asked what was his name but she forgot so she said the black boy in my class. The problem was there wasn't even one black child in the whole school. Next day she pointed a little boy out and it was Billy who was Asian. When I told her he's not black he's Asian she said that she thought he was white, I asked her what are you ? she said she was american. That opened up a whole conversation
I don't have kids, but I have an interesting experience: From the time I did gymnastics or ballet classes, I knew I was different. I grew up in a majority black town, and I had NO white friends. We didn't know any white people. When I moved to the south, I was like: "OMG! They don't care that I'm a different race! They don't judge me by the skin color, but by my character!"
I was afraid that it would be like the stories of segregation that we were taught in class, but I was wrong.
Do I notice people's race? Of course. However, I put that aside and I'm like, "This girl is wacky and crazy! I love her. We could be good friends."
I don't have kids yet (early/mid 20's), but I remember when I became aware -- roughly age 5. I grew up in Chicago, most of my friends were of other races, and I traveled back to Europe to visit my family frequently (where it was still 99% white at the time). One day while we were there, I asked my mom where all the black people were. I have no idea what her explanation was at the time, but it completely puzzled me; I had friends of every race in Chicago, so it made no sense to me why my "friends" weren't in the other country. I noticed it but never thought anything beyond that. In fact, it bothers me how segregated the world gets as you age. I loved having different friends - there's so much we can learn from one another.
Well I'm just going to say it. White children have the luxury of not being taught about race with no negative effects. Children of color or who are mixed, if their parents don't teach them, than the world will, in a much more negative way.
Which I suppose begs the question, why not educate children about what race is and is not the same way the majority of us teach them about other things, like sex? I taught my kids about sex because I know that they can learn all sorts of misinformation just being out in the world, and that that misinformation can be dangerous. But many parents seem to think if they say nothing about race their children will know nothing about it, which flies in the face of every other issue in society. I don't get it.
My oldest daughter became aware of race around MLK Day in first grade. I remember up until that point when she would talk about other kids, she would refer to their hair....i.e. "She is the girl with long black hair." My daughter never mentioned skin color. Then in first grade, the teacher decided to teach the kids about the history of racism and segregation. My dd came home from school and said, "Well, I am glad I don't have black skin." We talked about it a little, and after that discussion, she didn't say too much else about skin color in the following months. However, I do remember being upset. I know the teacher meant well, but I think she inadvertently introduced the notion that people may be different because of their skin color. I don't think any such thoughts had ever previously crossed the mind of my daughter.
That was exactly my daughter's experience in first grade too.
Well I'm just going to say it. White children have the luxury of not being taught about race with no negative effects. Children of color or who are mixed, if their parents don't teach them, than the world will, in a much more negative way.
Which I suppose begs the question, why not educate children about what race is and is not the same way the majority of us teach them about other things, like sex? I taught my kids about sex because I know that they can learn all sorts of misinformation just being out in the world, and that that misinformation can be dangerous. But many parents seem to think if they say nothing about race their children will know nothing about it, which flies in the face of every other issue in society. I don't get it.
That's because for a white child, their race is not likely to ever be an issue. I agree with this completely. I could never raise my black child as "colorblind" because however blind she might be, no one else is going to be blind to the fact that she's black. It's a subject that I broached carefully, but definitely one that had to be approached at a fairly young age.
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