A Twinkie

You know those little yellow sponge cakes that are filled with a white cream? I'm not going to bash on the lack of nutrition in such an item, but rather use it as an picture to explain this concept.

Imagine growing up one color but then your world being another color. For this Korean adoptee that is what she experiences. Her adopted parents are white, yet she is Asian. So this makes her an Asian growing up in a white world.

This concept of growing up a different color than your parents is fascinating. But not a new concept. As I've been watching the television show, This is Us, I noticed the complexities and hidden stereotypes that exist in this world. In the show, the adopted triplet is black. His parents and siblings are white. The struggles of raising a child of a different race is evident. The parents realize they don't know if he should wear sunscreen or how to deal with the racism of the grandmother. Even in Grey's Anatomy this appears. Meredith and Derek adopt a black daughter. They get looks as the little girl grows up and her hair is uncared for. Meredith soon realizes she needs help learning how to deal with her daughter differences.

Adoption is beautiful and they adopted parents love their new children just as they are. They want to do everything they can for the child to have "normal" life. However, they often are blind to the child's heritage and forget that there are some ways in which the child will just not be like the parents. There are somethings in which the parent cannot prepare the child. This can be hard not only for the parents but especially for the child. They may feel eternally grateful, but a feeling of not belonging is still evident.

What can be done for the child? How can we allow the child to have both cultures when neither culture is superior to the other. Is it possible to blend the cultures? These are questions that adoption opens up and I believe it should be an ongoing discussion for the family. I think this discussion should be open just as conversation

about traditions are brought before the family. The child should be included in the family as any other child but the child's differences should be praised and nurtured

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#chapter21 #thefamily