The research into the obstacles experienced in raising a child of color

The study into the challenges of raising a child of color centers around exploring and engaging the literature on the injustice and inequality that people of color suffered under slavery and continue to face today. The paper examines the problems faced by parents of children of color in terms of socioeconomic standing and access to social amenities by drawing on the works of Kincaid, Morrison, and other academics. Among the issues addressed in the report are low incomes, hunger, and bigotry, among others (Colombo, Robert, and Bonnie 308). The challenges tend to affect the development of the children in all aspects be it emotionally or mentally since they are brought up under the notion that they can never be good enough and therefore they should be submissive and accept to live as second class citizens. Through the theoretical approach of Abraham Maslow, who examines the structure of the society in the dimensions of hierarchical needs, it can be observed that the children of color tend to be drawn to criminal activities and juvenile due to peer pressure and the desire to feel accepted. Since the society tends to discriminate against them, they form gangs in which they express their opinions and feel accepted. The social divide, therefore, proves to contribute to lesser resources being provided for the parents of the children of color.

Obstacles for Raising a Child of Color

As the children grow up, they are expected to be provided with the basic needs including security so that they may develop physically and emotionally. The setting under which the children of color are brought up is prone to frequent violence activities that the parents engage in at times for survival. For example, the blacks in the United States are expected to live in certain regions where they have others of the same race. In due course, the children develop under the harsh environments where they witness violent activities like gangs and criminal activities including drug and substance abuse (Harris 48). The children get drawn to the criminal activities. As observed in reality television shows, the children seek for identity and acceptance within the society. When the children are not offered proper guidance at an early stage in their development, they will end up acquiring the deliquescent behavior that usually has negative impacts on their development (Morrison n.p.).
The regions where the people of color reside are characterized by the high population with fewer employment opportunities left for those who are eligible to get employed. As a result, many of the parents are pushed to reduce their schedule so that they can cater for the ever increasing demands from their children. As a result, they will offer little or no time for their children, and therefore the children will receive little attention and guidance from them (Morrison). Consequently, the children feel free to engage in the activities that may be illegal since their parents are rarely at home to tell them what is expected of them. Besides, the low wages that the parents get does not allow them to hire nannies who would look after the children while the parents are away. Since children, like any other person requires company, they end up teaming up with their peers. In the end, they will engage in demeaning behavior that will be difficult to rectify as they grow accustomed to the activities.
Moreover, the government has failed to offer proper community services to the people of the color with a premise that they are a minority and therefore the basic services like security and protection are left in the hands of the community policing. Since the areas have a tense population, the community policing exercise has proven ineffective, and therefore there are increasing criminal activities propagated by the young members of the society (Harris 52). The failure to offer such social services like medical services to the people of the color by the government makes it difficult for the families to keep up with the increasing costs of living while providing adequate social services to the children. Therefore, it has become difficult for the parents to provide the necessary services due to the poverty levels they experience.
According to the theories of the hierarchy of needs as proposed by Abraham Maslow, the search for acceptance and inclusion is one of the basic human needs experienced by everyone in the society. However, there has been a report of the social discrimination that has been taking place within the United States, especially in the regions where people of color reside. The discrimination experienced includes the seclusion from certain social activities, setting up different categories of schools among others. It has become apparently difficult for the parents to raise the children of the color within the United States since there are disparities in the way the community and social services are provided by the states and the federal government (Harris 24).
The findings by the Washington State Institute on Public Policy showed that there was disproportionality in the United States, especially on the racial grounds. The Blacks, Hispanic, and the American Indian children are disproportionately placed into the education system on three bases. One of these criteria that discriminate the children is seen during the admission into the education system. Under these criteria, the children are offered with fewer chances compared to the other children (Dunne n.p.). Discrimination at this level is denoted by the ability of the white teachers and administrators to submit the children to harsh selection procedures that tend to eliminate most of the children of the color from the system leaving the best schools for whites only. Besides, the placement boards focus on ensuring that there are two categories of schools that offer education to the two classes of children. The whites are offered the best schools in the country where resources are provided in surplus and therefore the learning process is streamlined. On the other hand, children of the color are placed into the lower status schools where resources are limited including the educational materials and the human resource. As a result, the performance in such schools is lower than expected (Dunne n.p.). Learning in schools presumed to be poorly performing has a detrimental effect on the children of the color. For instance, they tend to be stigmatized with the idea that they are learning in institutions prejudiced as of poor status and therefore, their chances of getting into better colleges are limited.
Another criteria used by the boards is through offering more chances to the white children to enter Child Welfare System compared to the people of the color. For instance, taking, for example, the Washington State Child Welfare System, it can be seen that the Asian American children are offered with fewer chances to be accepted under the referral program (Harris 51). The findings are contrary to the expectation of the many because since the children from the people of the color tend to be from low-income backgrounds, it is hoped that they are to be enrolled into the children welfare programs.
Bringing up children of the color in the United States entails making sure that the children are encouraged to internalize it that success is a result of hard work. As much as the myth might have become outdated in some parts of the world, the children from minority groups like the Hispanic, Asian American, Blacks, and Native Americans are subjected to the notion that their success is glued on their hard work (Dunne n.p.). As pointed out in the Sweetness article, the children are brought up under the environment where they understand that their success is dependent on making sure that the whites are satisfied and feel comfortable. Considering the roles of the mulatto, it can be observed that in such cases where the children were born between a white and a person of color, it would be very tough for the mother to bring up the child. One of the challenges was that the child tended not to belong to either of the categories. That is to say, the child was neither white nor black. As a result, the acceptance of the child, right from the birth into either of the categories was almost impossible (Dunne n.p.). Most of the time, the whites would not agree to raise a mulato as their children. In fact, they do not entertain the notion that people would view them to have bent so low as to be in a relationship with a woman of color.
In addition, the mulato women who manage to keep their identity a secret for long enough, they tend to experience problems bringing up their children since the recessive genes tend to expose later on through the children (Dunne n.p.). In such circumstances as when the husband is black and the baby is born with the traits of white people, it becomes problematic for the mother because the husband treats the child as an enemy. As a result, the child grows up in fear and neglect which at times will contribute to development of depression and mental disorders.
As demonstrated in by Toni Morrison, it can be observed that the parents of the children of the color find it difficult to bring up the children under the social setting, especially in the United States. For instance, the protagonist demonstrates that she felt the imminence to murder her daughter because she is born with the skin color not expected of the white children (Morrison n.p.). Although she the protagonist had managed to behave like a white woman even though she was not, she was later exposed when the child was born with the traits of the blacks. She feels embarrassed due to the possible demeaning status the blacks were associated with.
Through the narrative voice, the readers are provided with the first perspective from the point of view of a mother who feels that it is embarrassing to bring up a child of the color. The narration by Morrison offers the true picture of what happens within the United States especially for the people of the color. The children become stigmatized due to oppression and discrimination that they are subjected to in their developmental stages (Morrison n.p.).
In the Caribbean regions, the children of color are faced with such problems as the society expects them to dress, and behave like the whites do. For instance, the parents of such children are forced to encourage them to dress like the Christians do and behave in the same manner. Although the children may have their own interests that are different from what the society expects from them, it is evident that they are not provided with the opportunity to choose their own path. It can be observed that the influence of the European Christians on the culture of the people of the color like the blacks and the Hispanic insisted on three elements of human sexuality. Though the most known are the patriarchal insistence on chastity and purity, the regulations also allowed the men to make their own choices while the women were confined to the rules of the church. The article further indicates that the women would not be allowed to create their individual identities and therefore they had to depend on the men for the choices.
Further, the article demonstrates that the parents of the children of the color tend to over-protect them from the world by dictating almost every aspect of their lifestyle. The mother in the article attempts to inform the daughter how to eat, how to dress and all sorts of things without seeking the opinion of the child. As much as it might be considered as oppressive for the girl, it is still important education for every child of the color since the whites are still considered significant in determining what the people of the color do within the society. The girl is taught how to smile and keeps the yard clean, setting the table for tea, dinner and many of the house chores. From this incidence, it is seen that the children of the color are not in a position to develop their own thinking and are expected to acquire the ways of the whites for them to be accepted as civilized members of the society (Morrison n.p.).
Moreover, the children of color are brought up to develop into the submissive members of the society. As proposed by Gary, Robert, and Bonnie in Rereading America, it can be observed that the current society is pushing for allowing the children of the color to develop into critical thinkers. The perspective entails that such children will have their own principles and insights into the problems that arise within the cultures (Colombo, Robert, and Bonnie 309). The book offers an analysis of how cultural transition is impacting on the success of the children of the color and therefore it indicates that the society is not ready to accept the change in which the children of the color are being brought up as critical thinkers who are examining the cross-cultural assumptions.
 
Works Cited

Colombo, Gary, Cullen, Robert, and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013.
Dunne, Gretchen. "Sweetness". Prezi, https://prezi.com/ylstumbvskw2/sweetness/. Accessed 24 April 2017.
Harris, Marian S. Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare. Columbia University Press, 2014.
Morrison, Toni. “Sweetness”". The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/sweetness-2. Accessed 24 April 2017.