Transracial adoption often gets a bad rap in the media…..it’s controversial…….everyone has an opinion. But honestly, I love being a multi-racial family. I love the conversations it starts. I love (most days) being a walking billboard for adoption because let’s face it, adoption itself also often gets a bad rap. My family might be the first positive story someone hears about adoption. I also love the connection it brings to people who are strangers, who otherwise wouldn’t even talk with us. A connection because they too have a beautiful family created through adoption.
Beautiful shades of brown
Today on our way out of Busch Gardens we rode tram from the front gate to the parking lot. And since we pack a pile of kids and a stroller we rode in the back. The older gentleman working the back of the tram smiled at us and after a few minutes asked if all of our kids were adopted. Being a bit tired and not terribly in the mood for a long conversation while trying to keep little kids from falling out of the tram, I replied with a smile, “most of them.” He then said, “that’s great. My wife and I had two biological kids and then we adopted two children and we were also the foster parents to 24 children.” WOW! We chatted the entire tram ride (and no child fell to their demise, thankfully) about his family, adoption, and foster care. That connection was only made because of transracial adoption.
Something else that just recently I’ve started noticing is that my kids don’t purposely play with kids who look like them. In fact when we are in a public place (like a park or pool) Ben will about 90% of the time choose (consciously or not, I have no idea) to play with “brown” kids. I LOVE that!! I love that our family reflects what the world looks like and that my kids have no problem hanging with kids who look different from them. That’s what transracial adoption does……it shows that we are all people no matter what shade of brown, tan, or pale beige our skin might be.
House of Smooches 