Raising a Black Child in a White Family: A Practical Guide for White Parents Raising Black Children
My parents loved me, and they still missed a lot of what I was going through as the only Black kid in a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska. My book, I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late, tells that whole story. This guide is the practical side of the book, made for the parent who wants to know what to watch for in their own child and what to do next.
The guide takes ten parts of my childhood and turns each one into steps you can take at home. Every section opens with a short piece of my story from the book. Then you'll see how the same thing can show up in your child and why it can happen. You also get things you can do, words you can try, and a page to fill in and keep.
- The weight of being the only Black face in the room
- A calm stretch that can hide what's hard
- Blowups that are bigger than whatever set them off
- Feeling stuck between two worlds
- Black mentors and community, and why love alone can't cover it
- Everyday talks about race
- The child who comes home and goes straight to their room
- Getting it wrong and going back
- Helping your child know who they are
- Birth family, and staying close if your child searches
34 pages, instant PDF download.
About Michael Gaither
I'm a Black man who was adopted and raised by a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska. I spent 30 years in education as a teacher and a principal, and 13 of those years running my own executive leadership coaching business for school principals. My book is I Was Your Black Child: What White Parents Raising Black Children Need to Hear Before It's Too Late.
