Having mixed race kids in Taiwan

I’m mixed. I personally believe global society is still somewhat new in developing an understanding of what multiracial people are and what the experience is like.

I think it’s different for everyone based on a lot of factors, including but not limited to environment, appearance, generation born into (i.e. time period), level of cultural integration and acceptance, and other factors. Actually when it comes to race and culture, the experience can be different for everyone within a race regardless of what that race is, but I think this is a little more pronounced in the multiracial experience.

I would strongly suggest you sit down with a handful of multiracial people to talk to them in-depth about this subject. Kids are a big investment, and preparation in this area may help.

Also, be thoughtful about feedback from parents of multiracial children. I’m sure they mean well, and actually understanding their viewpoint may also be useful, but I would guess that statistically most parents of multiracial children at this current time are not multiracial themselves, and this can create a lot of misunderstanding and conflict. Asking someone who is not multiracial what the experience of a multiracial person is may have some similarities to asking a white person what the black experience is, as an imperfect analogy.

It’s an interesting and profound experience growing up with a different racial experience from your parents.

A forum post is not a bad starting point, but I think talking to some multiracial people at a deeper level will help even more.

Finally and most importantly, listen to your kids and try to understand who they are and try to avoid defining that too much for them. They are the most important multiracial person you can ever ask for their perspective.

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the thought does worry me a little if i ever have kids here. but i would feel worse if it was back home in england. when i grew up i heard all kinds of shit in school. even heard it as a grown up from asian friends. even yesterday my mum told me an asian looking russian co worker was getting racist abuse from chavs because of the virus.

My kids were half white/half aborigine, and any discrimination they faced was from being aborigine, which was not much here in Taitung; a little when they went to uni, but more ignorant curiosity: “Do they have McDonalds in Taitung?” (Yeah, two, and a KFC!)

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