Simone and Nadia love talking on the phone. So far, their conversations are short. They are way too young for cell phones, but it’s only a matter of time before they start asking for their own. Here is an amusing column about the pros and cons of children having cell phones. So, what do you say? When is it okay for a child to have a cell phone?
When I was a little girl, I couldn’t seem to get anything right.
I was skinny. I dressed white. I loved school. I acted white. I had long hair. I was stuck up. I lacked rhythm. I wore glasses. I “switched” when I walked. I talked white. Black girls picked so many fights with me I eventually beat them at their own game — and they left me alone.
Those girls didn’t like me. They didn’t like my identity. They also didn’t like or know themselves.
I feel the same way about those who say they don’t oppose interracial marriage but then wonder how our children will form their identities.
Our children will form their identities just like many children who came before them — with the help of their parents and a lot of trial and error. Mom told me there would be a day when women would envy my thin frame, and she taught me how to take care of my long locks. She and my father encouraged me to excel in school. Years ago, I learned how to embrace all of me.
Simone and Nadia will have to find and form their own identities. The process won’t be any worse or better than it is for children who have parents of the same race. People will call them names. They will say bad things about them. But with a little help from Ken and me, Simone and Nadia won’t believe them.
As for the rest of the people, worry about you and yours. We got this.
Meet 4-year-old Devan Tatlow and his mother, Indira Lakshmanan. He has high-risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, or APL, a rare form of myeloid leukemia, and he needs a bone marrow transplant in about nine weeks. Devan, though, is one-quarter South Asian and three-quarters Caucasian. Of the 8 million people listed in the National Marrow Donor Program’s, only 250,000 — or about 3 percent — are mixed-raced.
“This is a growing challenge that we face as the world expands and there are more mixed-race kids,” said San Francisco surgeon Willis Navarro, who is medical director of transplant services for the National Marrow Donor Program. Navarro understands the problem firsthand: His father is Mexican American and his mother’s ancestry is Northern European. In 2000, nearly 7 million Americans said they were multiracial; according to census projections, that number has increased by about 25 percent.
There is just something about farm animals that will make children lower their guard a bit. On a recent trip to the farm, Simone and Nadia fed goats, played with chicks and bunnies and even rode a pony. (Yes, there was a lot of handwashing.) Sometimes parents have to provide their children with experiences even when one of those parents finds the whole experience, well, to use a child’s word, yucky. I am happy to report no animals were harmed during our trip.
How about this for a first? California is the first state to add the term “multiracial” to school enrollment forms. The legislation was sponsored by Project RACE and supported by the California State PTA, the California Teacher’s Association, and the Association of California School Administrators. How long do you think it will take other states to follow suit?
It’s not sunny anymore. It’s partly cloudy. I think it’s going to rain.
Simone, our resident meteorologist.
