So my son is biratial. I'm mostly white and hubby is mostly Hispanic, I was filling out paperwork for baby and the ethnicity question had me stumped. I decided to just check "other" but I'm curious how other mamas would handle this. What about situations where "other" isn't an option?
I'm biracial myself, half black and half white. I've always identified as other on those forms. It's cool because now there is usually an option that says "one or more races" and I just check that.
I'm half Filipino and half white. If I am forced to choose on a form, I choose the Pacific islander/Asian box - mostly because visually I am obviously mixed and most of the time people will ask "what I am" (rude btw). If I looked more white I would probably choose that.
My baby is half black and half white, we check other on forms. But at the peds office under ethnicity they put Black automatically, it seemed to me to harken back to the "one drop" rule. I told them to change it to Mixed. He's as light as I am so I don't think people would assume he's half black until they meet my husband. If I had to choose one race and I'm the one filling out the form I'd probably pick white cause I think he looks more white. If my husband were the one filling out the form he'd probably pick black because it's his son.
I put other. I am filipino, japanese and portugese and my husband is Cherokee, irish and english. So our daughter is mixed. Usually there is a box that says 2 or more races. Or non Hispanic and Hispanic or check all that apply. So it just depends on the form
Honestly I never check what race I am or my childs. Really what race you are shouldn't matter. My teacher who is a medical coder and receptionist told me this years ago when I was in school for medical coding, she said she has never check her race bc it doesn't make a difference when putting in your patient information in the computer. Other reason she never checked bc there isn't a box to identify everyone. You shouldn't have to check other. To me it's kinda discriminatory that there aren't boxes to identify everyone. Plus people who are white aren't just white there German, Polish, Irish etc. I'm just saying
My sister has biracial children and there always just to be assumed to identify as black unless there is a biracial box. My other sister her children are white and Indian but look white. My brothers son is Mexican and white. My LO is white. We have a real American modern family lol I just hate the whole idea of having to identify your race. I hate the idea of the other box like your not a human being.
Lurker here but I have the exact same issue and have been searching for discussions on the topic. My husband is very dark (West African) and I am very white (European mix) and our hospital put my son as white on his paperwork. Made me chuckle since he is already really tan so I have asked they to either put him as other or both white and black. If other isn't an option I think I will just not check a box in the future, but interested to see what other people have to say!
Re: Biracial baby