Do some white teachers treat my half black half white Grandson differently than the white kids?

Question

I am as bright white as a sheet of copy paper. But sometimes I feel like my 8 year old Grandson is treated differently by white teachers and people in general. There are only 10 blacks in the whole big elementary school. What do you think the chances out there in the big bowl of life that this is actually happening all too often? I have always hated the race card and I don't want to pull it but sometimes I have to wonder in my shoes of experience raising my Grandson since he was 2. Am I imagining this or could he really be treated differently as it appears. Yes people do stare, as me and my white husband proudly take him everywhere with us. You can see the wheels spinning in curious minds. We can just ignore (ignorant) people but he is only an innocent child. Do black people frown on this too? I know most people don't care but there is always some who are predjudice. Also, our part of town and neighborhood is dominently white.

Answer 1

I don't think they look at your 8 year old Grandson any differently. People stare. It's just part of life. I know lots of half-black/half-white people and I think their awesome. Some people may stare because they think their good looking. Just put a smile on your face and don't worry about it. I doubt people think of you or your grandson any differently.

-Snork

Answer 2

well then that would be racism. everybody is the same, whether they have the same skin or not. honestly talk to your grandson ,and if he says he gets treated better or worse than some other people, contact the principal.

Answer 3

I doubt they do. I think people just assume things.

And if you feel that they are, why dont you let the school system know this. Its really not right if they are doing it.

I think half black half white kids are so beautiful myself.

and with all the racial things going on everywhere maybe you are just thinking its happeneing. step back and take a good look at things.

gooD LUCK and I wish the best for you and your grandson

Answer 4

Well, IMHO, I wouldn't think your grandson would be treated differently.  I think, and I am speaking from my own experience, that there are people who will judge for a plethra of reasons.  You may think they are staring because of his color, and some may be, but I too am white and I have a son who is white and we get stared at sometimes and I think 'does my son look odd' (he is very tall for his age so can appear immature when really he is only acting his age).  My son has ADHD, so there have been times when people will make comments or stare and I think that maybe my son is not acting 'normal'... I have another son who is skin and bones and I used to make him wear shirts when he swam because I thought people were judging me and him because he looked like I never fed him.  Finally one day I realized that people are people and there is no changing that... let your grandson be who he is and don't mind other people.  The more you react to it the more he will tune into it as well as he gets older.

I have to tell you this story... my hubby and I were trying to conceive for months and had finally gotten pregnant (I am due now in 3 weeks) and we wanted a girl so badly, because we have 2 boys.... we were at a restaurant and there was a little girl a few tables over.  I had tapped my hubby and pointed (totally shouldn't have) and he looked over too.  We then whispered to each other.  We were saying things like, 'I can't wait' 'look how cute' 'look how sweet' 'what a blessing for that mom', etc.  The mom noticed and when they left she came over because the girl was black and she was white to inform me that 'yes the father was black' and she proceeded to tell us that this was not an odd thing and finally we stopped her and told her how badly we felt for the misunderstanding.  That in fact we were pointing out every beautiful girl lately because we wanted so badly to have a girl (BTW preg now with third boy, lol).  I told her that I hadn't even considered color, I saw a beautiful little girl who was giggling with lil pony tales and wanted to show my hubby.  We were so excited to be pregnant and hopefully expecting a girl that we were pretty much admiring any girl under the age of 5 lately.  They were all too cute and sweet and we just couldn't wait to have our own.

She too apologized, but it really made me realize what we must look like when we stare.  We totally didn't mean to.  So, keep in mind that sometimes even a stare could just be because he is being cute or doing something that makes someone want to stare.  My youngest son would stand on his head in lines for the movies or at the grocery store -thank God that phase passed- He was able to balance (this is my skin and bones boy) on his head at about 4 yrs old and when he realized he could get attention from it, game on, lol.  I would get so embarrassed but then one day one of the onlookers said... 'he is so cute!!!!' and I realized that people werent staring thinking 'how stupid' they were staring cause he was being cute.  

IMHO... I am in no way in a position to say I understand your concerns, but I would think that as long as you don't make a deal out of it, your grandson won't even notice.  

As far as teachers at the school... My kids have attended two predominatley white schools (and I am talking, one school had 1 black girl and the other had 3 black students)  I never saw them get treated any differently and kids just magnetized to them because they weren't mainstream.  They were unique and that was intriguing to the other kids.  My youngest even came home one day and wanted to go tan because he wanted to be like his friend at school 'cause his skin was a cool color'... my son was 6 at the time.  

I hope this helped some!!!  Enjoy that lil boy!!!  They are great aren't they!!!   :)

Answer 5

If you saw to white parents and a black or Asian child, I would assume they adopted the child.  Not big deal

Some people may look who cares

I have a special needs child that is very tall for her age.  I had her in dance at 3.  A group of mom's made fun of my child in front of me, other parents and children.  When they found out she was three, they said "O, we thought she was 4"

As if they thought she was more behind that she is, make it better

I would treat your grandson as the special person he is

Who cares if people wonder why he is black

As for the teacher, some yes, some no

They can treat him different, because of who he is, not his color