Word: mothers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...blessed to be an adoptive family," "My husband is Chinese") disarm loaded questions and offer examples of coping behavior. "I had to model appropriate behavior and give answers I hope my children would use," says Nancy G. Brown, co-founder of Multiracial Americans of Southern California and mother of Nicole and Rachelle, two biracial black-and-white girls. Her daughters, now teenagers, handle questions with aplomb and simple, swift replies...
...dividing line. Parenting a child who straddles that line means addressing not only the question of "Who am I?" but also "Where do I belong?"--an issue that parents must grapple with before they are swept away by the rapids of everyday family living. "The father and mother have to get together on what they're going to say so the child is not given two different spiels," says Clayton Majete, a lecturer at New York City's Baruch College who studies interracial families. He suggests waiting for the children to raise the issue and then taking the time...
...approach, however, that requires diligence on the part of the parents. Project race (Reclassify All Children Equally)--a campaign started by Ryan Graham, a biracial Florida teenager, and his mother Susan--has won changes in the act college-entrance-exam forms and some minor alterations in the U.S. Census form as well as on some local and state government forms. But most of society has not yet taken to the concept of biracial identity. Most government forms don't include a multiracial box, and it's usually up to the parent to make sure a child isn't compartmentalized...
Parents may prefer that children embrace their full racial heritage, and it can be painful for, say, a white mother to see her biracial child choose to identify herself as black. But there are limits to parental influence, as well as immense pressure to choose sides. "One of the things we find is that in the teenage years, they stray from the teachings of their parents," says Darden, who has encountered this while running a local interracial-family support group. "It's too difficult to be different." Parents can offer their support and advice, but they should be ready...
...utility vehicle," the 29-year-old Dallas market researcher had moved to the suburbs and thrown herself into instant parenthood. Yet despite the many hours she has spent caring for her stepchildren, Hermes says they are often angry at her. "I'm there, and I'm doing all these mother things," she says. "I'm making their lunch, and I'm helping them with their homework, and I'm doing all of this stuff every day through the week, and I feel like I don't really get any appreciation...