Baby Book Entry II
I was watching News Radio and they showed Catherine (who is black) sitting next to Beth (who is white). Madison looked up and said, “Hey, dat’s Jessica and Nate!” Nate, being an extremely tall, broad-shouldered man has only one thing in common with Beth. Madison says Nate is “pink.”
From what I’ve read, she’s right on target to start talking about this (2.5). A book I used as a preschool teacher (Starting Small) says that biracial kids notice racial differences earlier than white children but older than black children. “But by age 3 or 4, most multiracial children are aware of racial differences.”
I wonder if it’s come up because we’ve spent a lot of time lately with Jessica and Nate?
She was younger when she would point to black women and say, “That’s Jessica!” in the same way she would point to women with short hair and say, “That’s Grandma!” Since the women looked nothing like Jessica or Grandma, I think she was saying (and responded as if she was saying), “That person reminds me of Jessica/Grandma!”
Anyway. Still no in-depth commentary. Just want the dates set down.
Did you ever read this book? I think I actually interviewed the author for you, for ePreg! Anyway, it’s a really good resource about raising multiracial children, and outlines the different developmental changes and social changes age-by-age.
Hannah has been using our names (Mama, Dada, and DaMa (Grandma)) to indicate everything from size to gender in every sort of animate or inanimate object. The big flower on her pjs is the Mama, while the little one is the Beybay! The girl in the story book is Mama and the boy is Dada. It’s so interesting to watch them begin to discover individual bits of identity.