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I realize that I spend most of my writing time on black/white transracial adoption. Obviously this is the type of adoption my family has. I’m trying to expand my topics though and will focus on Asian transcultural adoptions with this post.
When looking for some rescources for Asian transracial adoptions I found many children’s books, articles and even a magizine for girls adopted from China. A quick search on Amazon.com with the words asian adoption will bring you up quite a bit to look over. Adoption.com is a great place to start gathering information if you are wanting to adopt an Asian child.
DiscoveryHealth.com has some great skin and hair care tips that may be helpful for new adoptive parents of Asian children. Asian’s tend to have dry skin and hair. Washing hair every other day with a mild cleanser works well usually.
I remember watching an Oprah show with Lisa Ling on it. She mentioned that Asian families often look at how wide a child’s eyes are and comment on having “good eyes”. I had not ever realized this before, but it seemed to me that this was the Asian equivilant of “good hair” in the African-American culture. It hit me how much the “white, western” culture really dictates a lot of the world’s view of “beauty”.
On that same Oprah show they interviewed Asian women who shared thier secrets on hair straightening and having the pure, fair skin. An old tradition that is still used is a facial made with bird “poo”. Very enlightening. It goes to show that people (especially women) all over the world work very hard at achieving beauty!
As with all adoptions, finding a support group that matches your situation will most likely be the best resource of knowlege and comfort. Finding native language classes, dancing and special events is easier when you are with a group. If you have any advice on raising children adopted from Asian countries, or a domestic adoption of an Asian-decent child please feel free to leave a comment!
I see this with people of all races. At my church picnic (which is 50% white and 40% Asian) I overheard a little red-haired girl say to her mom “mommy, when I grow up, I want to have pretty blond hair like you and Alice (her younger sister) because blond hair is better than red”.
I also see Caucasian people with natural brown and red hair dying their hair blond because blond hair is “prettier”.