Parenting Children of Color

Mr. Sweetie and I attended a transracial parenting workshop last weekend. (We are white; our daughter, Lil Sweetie, is black.) The workshop was great in many ways—it was wonderful to sit in a room full of other parents whose families look much like ours—but it was also sobering. Parenting any child is a huge responsibility, but then add in the need to help the child develop a strong, positive racial identity when you don’t share her race...it’s daunting.

I struggle daily with how to best serve my daughter. I’m not black and can’t ever know what it is to be her, to be a black child, a black girl. Of course, I talk to her about her experiences and how she sees the world. And I try to educate myself on black issues, by doing things like reading Essence magazine and contributing to the NAACP. But how much is enough? And how much is too much? Am I trying to be black by doing these things? Where is that line between educating myself and trying to make my daughter’s story my own?