Daughter(s) having trouble fitting in, grating on her...

I sent some posts to Temp in order to keep this on topic.

I didnā€™t realize you were in Pingtung. Well, I hope things improve for your daughter. At least she probably doesnā€™t have the extreme pressures related to school like many have in Taipei. I know this is something many struggle with in Taipei (most of us from outside of Taiwan hate seeing our kids exposed to so much pressure and having to constantly do busy, busy homework).

That was an interesting link you provided above. Iā€™ll show it to my daughter.

As a mixed kid growing up in the 90ā€™s, and one who looked particularly more European than Taiwanese; it was hell. On top of that I had red hairā€¦ LOL fuk my life

Things are better now, but hereā€™s my suggestion and I thank goodness my father took the suggestion:

Get out of Taiwan, give her a western education
THAT IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR KID!

I hated it as a kid, getting dragged around by gangs of kids and having milk poured into my school bag, pushed into swimming pools, trousers taken off and hung off of a tree by my ankles, beat up by kids 5~6 years older than I was. Teachers egging them on shouting at me as if I was responsible for the opium war and how the Brits invaded everyone (Get over it)

After leaving almost 17 years ago my feelings towards the place grows more fond every year, Iā€™ve even visited once or twice.
But even though I was born there and there will always be a place in my heart for Taiwan, know this, and I realised it myself is that they will NEVER accept me, Iā€™m too tall, too pale and my hair is still dark red-ish.

Your daughter will always be the ā€œwai guo renā€

Well thereā€™s my two cents

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I grew up on the rock. it didnā€™t work out badly for me at all.
I remember being the center of attention being a hapa.
I only went to a Taiwanese kindergarten for six months. Kids were too small to be mean to other kids, at least not in a racial way. I then went to an American kindergarten and I spoke zero words of English. THAT was awkward trust me.

But starting first grade my teacher gave me extra two hours of English after school ended And my mom started teaching me english so I started to be able to get into it.

Second grade I was the only boy in my class. So that was kinda fun.

Yes, people thought I was a foreigner and always spoke about me as if I didnā€™t understand them. Sure shocked them when I would speak to them in Taiwanese.

And yes, somehow you are always a bit foreign. Up until a certain age anyway. But you are always the center of attention (up until a certain age as well).

If you learn to handle being the center of attention. Itā€™s fine.
I did have to tell my story to every single person that I came across when I was young. Every time I got into a taxi, every time i went into a store. Even a taxi driver rolled down his window when he was next to me at a stop light, when I was on my moto.

But it was (in my case anyway) all GOOD attention. People were genuinely interested in me and their intentions were good.

I was never cursed at or spoken to in a bad way. So I didnā€™t have any problems. Now that I am older, I seem to fit right in when I go back for a visit. Bus drivers would speak to me in Taiwanese. Nobody asked me anything anymore. Ha.

Funny thing the only discrimination that I felt as a young lad was at a Christian summer camp in Taiwan when some white boys from a different school yelled ā€œwe donā€™t want chinks in our dormā€ Not very Christian I would say.

I was a ā€œchinkā€ to honkies but a honkie to asians.

As I always said, being part Lion and part Tiger, the Lions always see the Tiger in you and the Tigers always see the Lion in you, and you are always both but also neither.

Life as a Liger is not all bad !

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And Iā€™m just an asshole to all

Itā€™s always interesting to hear the experience of other mixed kids.
Unfortunately for me I grew up where there was a large ā€œwai sen renā€ population or ethnic mainlanders. None of them spoke Taiwanese (funny enough I did) and their parents were hateful, the Chinese secretly are once they realise your father is white and in their words you have ā€œdirty bloodā€ some shit to do with Han racial integrity blah blah. The ethnic Taiwanese never seemed to have that problemā€¦ Dearly nice to me, bought me ice cream and stuff.
I had problems because of that fact that I never looked Taiwanese, and I still donā€™t. I can pass off as a random white guy who has dark red hair or I suppose Hispanic or something.

Most mixed kids will take on the dominant gene, look at Obama; I guess somehow because my mum is part native and possibly part either Dutch or Spanish.
So whenever I go to Taiwan, the country of my birth, I am ā€œLao waiā€

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Shocking isnā€™t it how people judge so superficially
And make so many assumptions by the color of the skin. Even more so when mixed and it just happens you look more like one side than another! Stupid people.

My heart goes out to the OP and his daughter. That is a lousy situation and I wish Taiwanese folks werenā€™t so narrow minded towards mixed and other kids.

The difference in reception and treatment noted by Cymru from BSR and WSR Taiwanese is interesting. While I have no direct experience or perspective, I wonder if the BSR experience with ethnic discrimination from some WSR (where some believed that BSR were definitely Chinese, but were second-class Chinese) and the Japanese (who viewed BSR as Japanese subjects, but second-class at best) influenced such different receptivity. Some of such views may be ā€œclassā€ oriented as well as my perception has been that Taiwanese WSR from ā€œeliteā€ backgrounds tended to be the most bigoted while those from more humble origins (I count many of my own relatives - orphans, petty merchants, enlisted soldiers) seemed more open minded. As the BSR/WSR distinction among Taiwanese has faded a lot, I wonder if such different outlooks still persist.

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why do you get treated as a local now tommy, do you look more asian now?

I have been complimented on my dashingly good looks, my Greek features some of the ladies say, and frequently my handsome German features. My wonderful Bristish charm is often noted too. I feel Iā€™m more Roman than anything else

I was bullied in school, devolved a stutter from the anxiety of it. It went on for a couple of years from about age 13 to 15. My basic response was that if I smiled and pretended it wasnā€™t happening then it would go away. Unfortunately that didnā€™t work.

My advice to your daughter: donā€™t focus on or accept the excuse that people are using to bully you. There is always an excuse: fat, skinny, red hair, curly hair, stupid, funny name, foreigner, blah blah. Donā€™t say Oh I am having trouble fitting in because I have a funny name and I am a foreigner. The bullying is not because your name is funny, or because you are X, Y, or Z.The bullying is because someone thinks that they can get away with knocking you and come out smelling of roses.

Pick a moment and stand up for yourself. Escalate. Grab the nettle. It doesnā€™t matter how, and it doesnā€™t matter if you win or loose, all it matters is that the bully looses too. Then they wont bully you again. Simple as that. :slight_smile:

Also there may be plenty of people in school who are on your side, but they will never stand up for you unless you stand up for yourself.

Thatā€™s my two cents

Hermione Granger was treated as a mud blood. And it didnā€™t do her any harm.

Honestly, I donā€™t think there is a real solution to making everyone get along and having your child in a safe environment of acceptance. I can understand as a parent you want to intervene and makes things better, but I think the only thing you can do is to be a good parent at home and provide her with the best environment you can at home. Unless itā€™s very bad, like physically harming her, I think you just got to trust that your child can overcome this.

Not to say her problem isnā€™t a issue or compare but I went through some tough times getting bullied when i was a child. I had to fight in many schools so kids would learn to leave me alone and that I wasnā€™t a push over. Not that I recommend your child punching the next girl that gives her an attitude haha. But I got stronger from it and Iā€™m glad some of these kids bullied me. I was fat and out of shape when I was 13, thank God i got poked fun of for my weight because I asked my parents for a home gym kit because i was too embarrassed to go to the gym. I got in real good shape, puberty happened and I grew like crazy. Now iā€™m in my 20s and I worked with athletes and am training to play pro ball next year. All because some kids called me fat, I worked harder and played for my HS, played in college, etc.

So my point is kids are more resilient than they seem, and with support from home, she will be alright.

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