The Invisible Child

Nowadays, there seems to be a Yahoo group for just about anything. Among the many to which I belong, I am a member of a group entitled "Bio and Chinese," a forum for parents of biological children and Chinese adoptees. (O.K., so William hails from Taiwan, but until the Taiwanese adoptive population explodes in size, we'll just have to make do.)

Not too long ago, someone posted a link to a thought-provoking article on the importance of valuing our biological children's heritages. I'll wager that quite often their cultural backgrounds and places of birth don't get celebrated anywhere near the extent as those of their adoptive siblings.

With all of our chatter about Taiwan lately, Andrew's 50% Taiwanese make-up has been well-indulged. I'm not worried about satisfying that fraction of his heritage. However, Burbville, New Jersey where he was born needs to become a bigger deal in our every day parlance. We need to return to that Polish festival late this summer and perhaps listen to some bagpipe music (his late, great-grandpa H. Collier Mc. would appreciate this). It also wouldn't hurt us to frequent an Oktoberfest celebration or two.

I've been doing the best I can to make sure that Andrew doesn't feel neglected in all the hullabaloo over William's arrival. Still, this article convicts me that I need to take my efforts one step further. Read it for yourself, and if you're also in the Bio-Taiwanese or Bio-Anything Else parenting boat, you may find yourself a bit challenged, too.