My names Ruby and I’m a wife but most importantly the mother of 2 beautiful wonderful babies. We are an intercultural couple. My husband is Black and I am Mexican. We’ve been married since ’07. After tying the knot we knew we wanted children, especially after losing one in August of 2007. We’ve since been blessed with 2 little bi-cultural babies. Little man is 16 months and little lady is 3 months. I’ve been inspired to blog my parenting experience, since raising 2 children with 2 cultures has become an interesting experience.
Long before my babies were born my husband and I discussed how we would like to parent. We talked about our values, morals, religion, and then we got to our cultures. We also knew there would come a time when our children would be questioned or teased about their cultures. We discussed if we wanted them to learn both languages. When asked on paper what their race was we would check off OTHER since they are NOT 100% Black or Mexican but BLACKXICAN. A lot of compromising was made, to say the least.
Both my husband and I have been in situations where people not only questioned if our children are male or female but if they were OUR children. Our children are opposites one is light one is dark but they are OURS. Somehow that’s very hard to believe. Even worse is when asked what are they or what race are they. It’s just bad when they just assume one or the other. At first this didn’t bother me its OK to sometimes I assume and make the mistake and we don’t mind explaining to people. However, there have been situations where they make rude comments and sometimes walk away believing we are lying. It gets tiresome.
This is when it hit me, not only will my kids have a hard time defending who they are but we will too. As parents, we are going to be challenged each and every day by people who don’t know any better or are quick to judge. Although it may be OK to be angry NOW my goal is to show my children different. I don’t want them to feel hurt or angry. I want them to feel good about themselves and who they are. I want them to be able to understand and explain to someone that they are different but that’s OK. My children will be raised Black and Mexican. They will love who they are and grow up proud.
So far it’s been a task to find dolls, toys, and TV shows for them to identify with. Although they are small I know they soon will understand. It hasn’t been a piece of cake but it sure has been a lot of fun. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy the many things our family experiences while trying to raise OUR BLACKXICAN BABIES.
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