Being the mom of an interracial child is a unique challenge. If you don’t have the same skin tone as your child, people who don’t know your family dynamic will often question your relationship. A situation like this can be understandably difficult for a everyone involved.
One mom who is in an interracial relationship is speaking out about the struggle she has as the mom to mixed-race kids. She made it clear that she had to go as far as taking a DNA test to prove that her fair-skinned daughter is biologically hers.
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The experience hasn't been easy.
Alex is a Black mom of three, and her husband, Rob, is white. The couple welcomed 2-year-old daughter Pudge Pudge via IVF. When Pudge Pudge was born, her parents were “surprised” by how much lighter her skin was compared to their older children. “I was super surprised,” Alex told Truly, as reported by the Daily Mail. “Her ears weren’t even dark. They were really, really white!”
Having a child who looks so different isn't easy for the mom.
Alex explained that she gets “a lot of negativity” from people online, and even in person, because of their differing skin tones. She shared that people have gone so far as to accuse Alex of “renting” Pudge Pudge as a “content baby” for social media.
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She shared a disheartening experience with her daughter.
The mom shared a story about shopping with Pudge Pudge at a mall when an employee stopped her. Apparently, the staffer felt that “things didn’t look right,” and threatened to call security on her.
“Rob ended up handling the whole thing for me and essentially telling her to leave us alone,” she explained. “I should be able to hang out with my child the way I want to!”
The mom decided to take a DNA test to prove herself.
“We decided to do the DNA test because she was so white and we did use IVF to get pregnant with her and mistakes do happen,” Alex said of their decision. She said it was to “rule out” any speculation, even on their part, that Alex wasn’t Pudge Pudge’s biological mom. Alex explained that someone once thought she was the baby’s nanny while seeing them out together.
She got a lot of support to counter some of the hate she gets.
“I’ve seen people that appear to be black online that say I shouldn’t have that white man’s child, all kinds of things,” Alex said of the content she posts online of her family.
But in sharing her story, she got a lot of love and support.
“It’s ridiculous that you and Pudge Pudge had to experience that!” one person wrote on Instagram. “It’s sad that you have to produce a DNA test in this day and age to prove maternity just because a child’s phenotype presents more like one parent than another.”
“People clearly don’t understand the complexities of genetics,” another commented. “Even if Pudge was adopted she’d still be your child and the stranger would’ve still needed to mind their business.”
“WTF is wrong with people, they need to mind their own business,” someone else wrote.
“That’s because they haven’t seen her dad lol although she does have your beautiful smile,” another pointed out.
