Interracial and Multi-Cultural Families

Poor Macy. They gave her a buzz cut in the orphanage because she had ringworm on her scalp. Before that she had long braids. Every time we see a kid on tv or in a magazine that has long hair - especially pig tails - she said "Mom, I want that!" She doesn't seem to understand that it's going to take for.ever. for her hair to grow that long.

Our first day of school I heard a little boy say "Mom, there's Michael!" and the mom said "Uh, no honey, that's not Michael, but she (or maybe she said "he") looks like him." Okay, so I brushed that off. I'm sure the kid doesn't see many other black kids. No sweat.

Today we walked in and Macy had picked some flowers for her teacher. One of the other teachers in the hall said "Ohhhh how sweet! I want him in my class. Look he has flowers for the teacher." All the while the other teacher next to her was elbowing her saying "HER - it's a girl - she's a girl - her..."

D'oh. Does she really look like a boy?? Should I be doing puffs in her hair every day instead of letting it go natural? Or does she need to wear a dress every day, lol.

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Ah, poor Macy.  People are just blind I think.  When Taylar was a baby I had her all in pink, earrings and everything and people still thought she was a boy.  If it makes her feel uncomfortable or upset, then put some little clips in the front of her hair or make sure she's wearing girlie things.  But still, people just say what they want and not bother to pay attention to their surroundings.

HUGS to you and Macy.

   

That's a cute kid. The truth is, people don't start looking physically like their sex/gender until puberty and until then we rely on extra cues (hair, clothing, jewelry) to make quick judgements.

Until her hair get's longer maybe try clips and bows in it. And unless her school dress code forbids it maybe a small pair of hoop earrings. I wore my hair very short as a teen and started wearing earrings everyday to look more girly.

Thanks everyone! :) People are funny, aren't they?

From what I can tell (keep in mind, we have a big language barrier!) she really wants long hair. She was grabbing my hair this morning saying "I want this" and showing me how it was long. It breaks my heart I can't explain that it takes a long time for it to grow. Would it be wrong to get extensions for a 5 yo?? LOL! Maybe I'll take her out to buy some cute bows and headbands that she likes.

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