Best tips for raising a bi-racial family

Percy L. Abram, PhD offers his tips on raising strong, confident children who are biracial
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Best tips for raising a bi-racial family

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My tips for raising a bi-racial family is to teach your children the pride that comes with being members of multiple communities. I remember growing up being told as an adolescent that I wasn't black enough because I did certain things, and in other environments that I was too black. There was a really narrowly defined conception of what it meant to be an African-American, and by allowing others to define that for me, there were times when I struggled with my identity. I think now, I have a wife who is white and Mexican, and she experienced the same pitfalls growing. Those from her Mexican background told her that she wasn't Mexican enough, and others from the white background told her that she was too Mexican to participate in other things. We are very clear with our children about what it means to be an African American, what it means to be Latina in America and the wide experiences that go along with it. What's important to me is that my children now define for themselves what it means to be bi-racial, can identify cross-culturally in either world, and are ensuring that they don't let anybody from the outside world define what it is to be a member of the community.

Percy L. Abram, PhD offers his tips on raising strong, confident children who are biracial

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Percy L. Abram, PhD

Head of School

Percy Abram is the Head of Gateway School.  Gateway School is a Kindergarten – 8th grade independent school in Santa Cruz, CA.  Prior to joining Gateway School, Dr. Abram was the Upper Division Director at Brentwood School in Los Angeles.  An LA native, Dr. Abram received his B.A. (Economics) and M.A. (Education) degrees from UCLA, and his M.A. (Sociology) and Ph.D. (Education) from Stanford University.  Dr. Abram and his wife are the parents of a 10-year old daughter and 7-year old son, and despite running a school and being responsible for 260 students each day, he still finds parenting his most challenging job.

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