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I was at a 4th of July party at friends; there were both birth and adoptive families, and kids of all different racial/ ethnic backgrounds. The best thing for me was looking down at them playing and realizing that the brown kids way outnumbered the white kids. There was only one other AA kid, but in terms of skin tone, he was the majority. That doesn't happen for us often. He gets to hang out with kids who look more like him, but when we are in large groups (daycare, playground, etc) it is definitely majority CC. C is only two, so it doesn't mean much to him right now, but I definitely treasure those settings (both for me and for him) and I realized how much more relaxed I was with families that looked more like ours. It was a good reminder to me that it's not just having diverse people in our lives that's important, but being able to be in groups and settings where we don't stand out.
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That's awesome! We're part of a transracial adoptive families group for the same reason...AND so that he sees other brown kids with white moms.
ruth74
I was at a 4th of July party at friends; there were both birth and adoptive families, and kids of all different racial/ ethnic backgrounds. The best thing for me was looking down at them playing and realizing that the brown kids way outnumbered the white kids. There was only one other AA kid, but in terms of skin tone, he was the majority. That doesn't happen for us often. He gets to hang out with kids who look more like him, but when we are in large groups (daycare, playground, etc) it is definitely majority CC. C is only two, so it doesn't mean much to him right now, but I definitely treasure those settings (both for me and for him) and I realized how much more relaxed I was with families that looked more like ours. It was a good reminder to me that it's not just having diverse people in our lives that's important, but being able to be in groups and settings where we don't stand out.
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We had a group like that when my kids were small. I live at the outer edge of the area, so I didn't get to go to as many things as I wanted to, but occasionally drove an hour or two to something I thought was worth it!
Your experience made me think of a Juneteenth picnic we had, about 16 years ago. My only "full black" child was three. There were lots of families in the group who had adopted black baby boys over about a year's time. We all had our sons' hair buzzed for the summer and, that particular day, most of us had dressed them in short, denim overalls and red shirts. When it was time to eat, I went over to the playground equipment to get Joseph, and several other mothers went to get their little boys too. We all laughed about the fact that it was difficult to pick our own child out from all the little boys who looked so much alike! None of us had ever had that experience before!
We also had a small group, up here, who got together for picnics a couple times a month, when weather permitted. We let the kids play and we talked. It was funny, watching other people come and seeing them stand and look around, obviously wondering where the parents to those little black kids on the playground equipment were!