Multi-Racial Babies and Mommas

nallen14 · February 2014

So my husband is white and I'm biracial (half black, half white), thus our baby will be 3/4 white and 1/4 black. Lately I've been getting a bit anxious about everyone just identifying her as white (lord knows growing up it was hard enough for me to check the race boxes, especially with that daunting CHECK ONLY ONE). I know she will be mostly white and will probably look white but she is still a quarter black, it's still a part of her. I just don't know what they would consider her at the hospital. I don't want them to put that she's white on her birth certificate but I know she's technically not 50/50 biracial like I am. Any of you momma's been through this already?

HobokensFury · February 2014

My kid is going to be 50% Hispanic, 25% white and 25% Asian as both DH and I are biracial. I haven't put much thought into it. I'll check as many boxes as I have to.

Mizoo · February 2014

A friend of mine has a baby that is 75% white and 25% black. You can tell by looking at her that she is at least biracial. 25% is still a significant percentage :-) She has gorgeous curly hair and a beautiful skin color! I think the "check only one" race boxes are a bit outdated... There are SO many multiracial people now that it's just impractical to expect people to fit into one category like that!

nelbie06 · February 2014

I'd say check as many boxes as you like, and to teach your daughter that she's beautiful and that her race doesn't define her...best of luck!

Gamera3000 · February 2014

There's a book called "Beyond Black" (amazon has it) about multiracial identity and identification. An interesting point I took from it was that people have internal racial identities that are not always supported by the outside world. For example many multiracial people identify as "mixed" yet when others see them they are automatically classified as something less complicated (black, white, Asian, Latino, etc). Eventually, as adults, people tend to internalize both identifications. Anyhow I thought it was a good book.

nallen14 · February 2014

I'll have to check that book out! It used to drive me nuts growing up when people would automatically say "oh you're not black". Um yes I am....I'm just white too

Unfortunately, I got married in South Carolina which still uses the "Check one" system so it says on my marriage certificate that myself and my husband are both white -_-

Maqueripe · February 2014

It doesn't matter what anyone else identifies her as, race shouldn't be something you umbrella an individual with but you should feel free to correct people if they have misconceptions and of course teach her about every part of her racial identity. I'm black/indian, and my SO is half black, half white so our daughter will be multiracial and we plan to incorporate all parts of our culture into her life but teach her not to label herself by her skin color or anything like that. It can be tough to deal with other people's perceptions but at the end of the day the opinion of a stranger shouldn't matter.

cMichelle0423 · February 2014

I would just teach her that she's both and that it's okay to check more than one box! Both my husband and I are half white and half Mexican. Even though we both look more white and DS looks more white, we will definitely be teaching him and out LO on the way that they are both white and mexican.

rainydayluck · February 2014

I'm 1/2 Mexican so DD is 1/4 and I always mark her as Hispanic. DH and I had a chat recently because I asked him what he would check if he ever filled out paperwork for her and he admitted that he would probably check white without thinking. That made me a little sad since it's like denying half of me. Good thing I do all the paperwork, ha ha.

ETA: you are the one who fills out birth certificate info, so you make it what you want. No one would ever look at DD and guess she's Hispanic. People always ask me the dreaded "what are you?" question though....

nallen14 · February 2014

I didn't even think about my husband 0.0 I could see him doing the same thing.

oscarwao · February 2014

This baby will be half white and half Latino. Maybe I'm indifferent, but I could care less what box gets checked off/what she identifies with. I'll have to ask for DH's input on this, he may have more input than I do on the topic.

I also want to add I am NOT looking forward to all the people who are going to make this child's physical traits a topic of discussion due to her ethnic makeup (DH and I are polar opposites in terms of the color spectrum, so I'm sure people are going to blah blah blah about LO being blended). I just get annoyed at the amount of people who act like being biracial is some kind of novelty.

PrimRoseMama · February 2014

I don't thing race is even an issue on a birth certificate. My husband is First-Generation Taiwanese-American & I'm white. As far as I know we were never asked to identify DD or DS on a birth certificate or otherwise.

mysticl · February 2014

nallen14 said:

So my husband is white and I'm biracial (half black, half white), thus our baby will be 3/4 white and 1/4 black. Lately I've been getting a bit anxious about everyone just identifying her as white (lord knows growing up it was hard enough for me to check the race boxes, especially with that daunting CHECK ONLY ONE). I know she will be mostly white and will probably look white but she is still a quarter black, it's still a part of her. I just don't know what they would consider her at the hospital. I don't want them to put that she's white on her birth certificate but I know she's technically not 50/50 biracial like I am. Any of you momma's been through this already?

There is no race listed on my birth certificate, my husband's, nor our son's and we were all born in different states.

sganster · February 2014

My husband, son, and I fit this description exactly. We checked the black box because that is how I identify, though he looks ambiguous at best. You decide what you want to put down. My arents told me that when I was born the nurses checked the white box as a courtesy to me (right...thanks). When I went down to the Social Security Administration to change my name after getting married, I changed my box to black. So, don't feel like this is actually a momentous decision. You're the only ones who care, the only ones who decide, and the child can overrule your decision at any time for little to no cost or effort. Good luck!

rainydayluck · February 2014

MrsMuq said:

rainydayluck said:

I'm 1/2 Mexican so DD is 1/4 and I always mark her as Hispanic. DH and I had a chat recently because I asked him what he would check if he ever filled out paperwork for her and he admitted that he would probably check white without thinking. That made me a little sad since it's like denying half of me. Good thing I do all the paperwork, ha ha. ETA: you are the one who fills out birth certificate info, so you make it what you want. No one would ever look at DD and guess she's Hispanic. People always ask me the dreaded "what are you?" question though....

Really? This is a bit over-reactive, don't you think?

Nope.

seells · February 2014

So I'm mixed (black/white) and I got my medical records from my doctor since I'm switching practices and on there it says race:white. I NEVER filled out any paperwork where I sited my race. (When I do I check multiple boxes) and it made me a little pissed off that they just put that down.

I'm light skinned but obviously bi-racial. It's one of those things where white people looking at me assume I'm white (or sometimes Hispanic) but black people always recognize that I'm mixed.

DD is 50% white, 25% Mexican, and 25% black. She looks more Mexican then anything. I check multiple boxes even if it says check one. In my experience even if you check more then just the "white" box that's all that they see and all that they mark.

Christal161 · February 2014

I'm white (with my father's "ginger gene") and my SO is Asian (Chinese). We can't wait to see our little one, I'm hoping he gets his mother's freckles

I've never heard about mentioning the race of the child on the birth certificate... Sure people might not think he has caucasian but why should iI care what people think lol I know he's my child. The only thing I'm worried about is teaching him different languages! I know it's best to teach them before the age of 4 because that's when everything soaks in for a child... But I also feel bad about him knowing everything. At least we both agreed for his native tongue to be English! On the side he would learn French and Cantonese lol

Rogue237 · February 2014

I am multiracial and my husband is white. I don't believe there is anything to check on the birth certificate, but I've always checked more than one thing growing up. I'm not going to deny either side (my dad is black, native and white, my mom is white) and we'll teach our little one the same no matter what she ends up looking like.

Excitedmum35 · February 2014

I'm from Australia and I have an English/Scottish background, and DH identifies at being Australian Aboriginal. His grandfather was aboriginal, the rest of his grandparents white.
In Australia it's considered quite rude to put a % on a culture. My son identifies as bring aboriginal but he is technically only 1/8- but this is not something that is taken into consideration.
DH is very much into his culture and here, it's all about what u identify as- I can be aboriginal and not identify as being as well.

Want a personalized experience?

Multi-Racial Babies and Mommas

Re: Multi-Racial Babies and Mommas

LFAF Summer 2016 Awards:

Choose Another Board

Search Boards