Book Review

Pamelamers let me borrow a book called Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? The book is specifically written for either parents of multiracial children or parents who adopt children of another race than their own. I found the book to be thought-provoking, and two realizations come to mind after finishing the book:

1) While reading the book, I couldn't help but reflect on my own childhood as a Korean child growing up with white parents. I thought it was quite interesting that I didn't experience many of the same negative experiences and feelings as the multiracial young people in the book. I'm not sure that I can ever recall a particular instance of feeling isolated because I didn't "match" my white parents. Obviously, I was very aware that we looked different from one another, but I never felt that our family was weird in any way. I guess this speaks to the tremendous job my parents did raising me, if I do say so myself!

2) Until reading this book, it never once occurred to me that people might treat Mike's and my kids differently because they are mixed. Although we are in Austin, the liberal and progressive pulse of Texas, we are still in Texas after all. I expressed this concern to Mike last night who reassuringly told me, "Don't worry, our kids will get teased for many things in addition to their race." And as a school psychologist working with kids every day, I guess he knows.

Overall, I thought the book was a worthwhile read and it definitely had good intentions to help parents prepare for how they can answer their kids' questions about being a multiracial family.