ds is half indian and half what?

[camembertandcranberry]

So far, in response to questions, we have told him how he is half Indian and daddy's family were originally from India.

But how can I describe my half of the contribution - I'm not 100% English - it's too complicated and mixed.
I don't want to say just you are half indian as that ignores the other half.
I don't want to say ....and half British as Dh is British too.

Also dh is only of Indian origin and not culturally Indian or of Indian nationality so am not keen on saying dh is Indian. He feels similarly and we would normally say 'of Indian origin' or 'his/ my parents were from India' but that's too complicated for ds who is only (almost)4.

What do others on here with similar say?

can you say something like 'grandparents are from India so you have some of your roots there'? Thats what i am going to tell mine about his dads country i think

My Dad's family is Anglo-Indian, which is hard enough to explain in itself, let alone trying to explain to DD (nearly 3). My Mum is White British (to coin the official phrase)and I could never really explain my colouring to people easily and quickly.

What is your half? Is there a predominant...erm....race? (Not sure if that's the right word and sincere apologies if anyone is offended).

Hi
Katrina - I do say that sort of thing i.e. grandma's family are from India, another country.
But that still makes it hard to directly say where dh stands.
g4grapes - no there isn't really and I don't feel comfortable labelling myself with one over the others.

My dm Indian. That's how she describes herself. If anyone asks about her I assume they mean her ethnicity so I say Indian. Dm was born British doesn't look either Kenyan (where she was born/bred) or English so she's Indian.

My father is English but has some overseas roots too. My dh is from yet another country and I really cannot be bothered to explain to ds all the bits that go to making up his family tree.

My ds has a lot of difference around him in terms of skin colour, language and religion but he's never once asked.

I say that I'm British with English/Indian roots.

For my ds - I reckon he's going to view himself more of his dad's side he has the surname and his dad is of one ethncity, culture as is his entire family.

I just view him as a typical British kid.

just say mixed race???? "truly international" it's tricky isn't it, dh has a mixed heritage but it's several generations ago wo you'd always tick white british but the reality is that he's not!

What do you see your self as camembert?

I have grandparent/great grantparents ect who were not British (before I was born my father wasn't british), but I would always describe myself as 100% English. Maybe becuase I've lived abroad; it highlighted my Englishness.

DH's father is Irish, and I'm not sure he even consideres him self to be half Irish. He was born and raised in England, and to his mind he is 100% English, I think.

Ds is 4 years old and we have family and friends from all over the world. He is a Londoner. So are his parents NOW We tell him and every little friend that comes over, with the aid of a map. MY dad was Pakistani, his gran is Spanish (which he knows) he Uncle & cousins are Canadian, His other cousins are Londeners too but their grandparents are Irish/ Greek his friend's mother is American but her father and Mother are Vietnamese. He now knows a huge amount of geography and can tell everybody these facts. I think he'll always ask people their history and would find it odd if their family came from one place. The mixed race thing try and not go there, he/she are who they are full stop. Be proud of every bit of his/her history even the jail bird great gran (my mother's side) stall holder grandad (my dad) singing, chef uncle. Everyone is more than just a race.

tryingherbest Children love stories about their own family. Don't see it as a chore but a lovely tale for children to then tell to their children. You can add maps and pictures and fire their imagination as my mother did for me. Passed Georaphy with flying colours!

Ds has got interested in this since he started looking at maps. He's intrigued by his roots - knowing he's a tiny bit Dutch (great grandmother), has a big dollop of Welsh (both grandads), a tiny bit of Irish (another great grandmother), a weeny bit Scottish etc. etc. I know it's not the same significance as it's nationality, not race but he likes discussing all the different places his ancestors came from.

Totally agree, edam. Wait till we go to Cadiz. I can show Ds the fort, which was a prison in the 1940's, in which his great gran was incarcerated for smuggling. I hope he'll still remember her. We have photos of him on on a little old ladies lap ha! ha!

Think its all too complicated to explain such a racial mix to such a young child. I am predominantly white British but with a little bit of Russian Jew and French thrown in. DH is Egyptian with a little Tunisian thrown in. We tell our kids they are half English and half Egyptian. I will explain about the other bits too, but when they are old enough to understand, I don't want to confuse them!

We have resorted to split into quarters 9grand parents) rather than halves here. We have 2 quarters Berber, 1 quarter Swiss and 1 quarter Italian. I am always ennoyed in what to put on "ethnique Origin" questionnaires as ther is never anything that can describe us.

Now, that is a story worth telling, starbear!

I've promised to take ds to Amsterdam one day to show him the street named after dh's great-grandad. It's very funny, one parallel avenue is named after Mozart, on the other side an avenue is named after Beethoven (or someone equally distinguished) but the street in the middle is the biggest and grandest and is named after dh's great-grandad who no-one outside the Netherlands will ever have heard of and who certainly, with all respect to dh's family, does not rank equal with Mozart or Beethoven!

So far we have tried to explain to our DS that he is British with a mixed family. Daddy's family are from the Caribbean, mummy's family are from Ireland. We also point out that Grandad A is from Ireland, Grandad B is from Jamaica, Grandma is from Guyana etc as and when it comes up. He's only 4 yrs old, bless him, so that's complicated enough for him, I think.

I'm actually finding the colour/race thing much harder to explain, as DS's skin is virtually white, so he is finding the 'mixed race' thing quite hard to get his head around, and doesn't identify with 'brown' people at all.

edam Now that's posh. MrsMattie My best friend is from British Guyana . When we were little she said she was Indian from South American. When I looked at her she didn't look like the Red Indian in flims and I was confused but, it really didn't matter over the years I found out why and made me a better educated child. Getting confusions explained over years is half the fun. My DH & Ds are white if you want to call them that.
We really do have friends and family from all over the world and he isn't bothered. BUT what will confuse him when he's older will be to go to a place with no mixtures it will totally throw him.

i am half turkish and half english and loved being mixed and tbh i guess that is quite striaghtforward. DH is of Bangladeshi descent so I always either say what DH and I consider ourselves ethnically or say half bangladeshi quarter english and quarter turkish.. ticking the OTHER box is something i enjoy as people always try to stick me and the boys in a box.

Most of DC close friends are also mixed so i imagine it will be very difficult for them to explain when they have chidlren.

easy peasy ....

your ds is half mummy-half daddy but wholly loved xxx

my 4yos would say they are indian and white. DP is Indian and British. He has grown up in this country, but he def identifies himself as Indian.

I think you can add bits and bobs in later as they get older, and start recognising that different aspects of them come from different cultures and genes. The boys also describe themselves as brown, as their skin is darker than my white skin. My older two have a different father and know they have bit of Italian family in them and that is where they got their very blue eyes from.

I'm not sure really why it has to be complicated.

Perhaps it's generational thing.

In 40 years my parents quite honestly have never explained my 'roots' as they never felt the need to. The poster who said half mummy half daddy is quite right and that's what my parents instilled in me. And I never really asked but I did have lots of family around and my roots were pretty obvious.
They told me stories of course which gives you a feel for a place.

Ds doesn't seem to question differences in people at all.

However, as northern european as he looks I do consider him to be mixed race or mixed heritage (or whatever) but he'll form his own view of himself I'm sure.

Just to say My husband is Half Indian... They call it Anglo-Indian. His mum is from India his dad is Half burmese and Half Scottish...

I always thought I was English/British < whatever ... Turns out I'm from Greece!!! We don't ever really know where we are from...
It does amaze me though. I love telling everyone that my boys have an Indian Family.
x

One of my charges was 50% jamaican, 25 polish, 25% english. She loved it when I got out maps, from around 5yrs old and we used to go to the library and read about the different countries etc. It was difficult for her to understand I am 100% Scottish!

Badly written, very tired!