Times are changing. Not too long ago, the sight of a mixed couple would generate an upsurge of negative responses. Now, 13% of US marriages are interracial. This is shockingly higher than what is was thirty years ago when only just over 6% of US marriages were interracial.
Relatively speaking, mixed marraiges has only been legal in the US since 1967. This is a surprisingly recent year - most of our parents were already alive when this law was passed. That is something to reflect on.
The world is changing.
The US is a place far different from the place our parents were raised in. It is a different place than generation X, Y, and Z grew up in (the current baby having generations), for that matter. It will continue to change and shift again by the time this year's babies are old enough to have children of their own.
According to the Washington Post, "More than 7 percent of the 3.5 million children born in the year before the 2010 Census were of two or more races, up from barely 5 percent a decade earlier. The number of children born to black and white couples and to Asian and white couples almost doubled."
Today, children of mixed couples have to be subjected to the questions like "What are you mixed with?" and parents are forced to answer the ever awkward question, "So, what is he?" Although the schoolyard is more accepting of mixed kids than even ten years ago, there is still curiosity and sometimes negative feelings toward them.
The US has long since been a melting pot of culture, language and heritage. Now, in 2014, people are still dividing themselves and each other into ethnic groups. In some places some children may feel forced to choose between races and heritage.
So, what does that mean for today's parents of young children?
Parents are so much more than caregivers. They are teachers and friends. They are dictionaries, playmates. They are mommies and daddies. Children depend on the adults around them to show them how the world works. It is up to the caregivers to teach children about the places and things that surround them.
That being said, the challenges of raising a bilingual, bicultural, biracial child is evident almost right away. Before my child reached his first birthday I had already been asked to choose which race my child was.
Parents of interracial children are forced to cram their children into categories that may not necessarily exist anymore. The US is young. It was advertised as the Land of Opportunity and boy did they come running. As a result of that, its hard to say for certain where anyone really comes from.
In the twenty-first century it is almost sad that we are still dividing ourselves up after everything that the US had done to fight for equality. They fought for marriage equality, civil rights, equality for women and same sex marriage.
Although, no one means any harm, the question, "What is your kid mixed with?" can be damaging. It forces the parent and the child to pick a side when the lines are not as clear as they once were. We are a society of boundless technology and intellect. We should be breaking walls and boundaries, not building them.
As my husband so eloquently and lovely put it, "My son is part of the human race."
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