Bringing your Partner into your Family
It’s an exciting time in your life when you find someone you want to share all day with, from morning until night and into the next day as well. Meeting the right partner fills you with happiness, delight, and those adorable butterflies in your stomach. However, there are often other feelings that come to pass as the relationship progresses and you eventually find yourself feeling anxious and apprehensive when you feel the time is right to introduce your partner to your parents.
This is very standard feeling for any relationship. However, when you are dating someone who has a different ethnic or racial background to you and your family, these feelings are understandably amplified. Fortunately, interracial dating is becoming more and more socially acceptable in this day and age. Flashback to even just the 1980s and couples back then had a much harder time!
In today’s society, there are less question marks and frowns happening when you date someone from a different race. None the less, like with introducing any partner into your family, there are some things you should keep in mind for a smooth and happy process.
Talk about it
One thing that is highly important in all relationships is communication. The classic cliché is true in this case. When you bring up your interracial date in conversation, try not to be presumptuous and assume that your family will be against it. If you know that certain members of your family are closed minded, chat to other people you are close to and know they will support you. Gain confidence in bringing up your partner with trusted people before informing those who may have strong opinions against the whole thing.
Have some responses prepared
You know your parents and your family well, so you can likely predict their reaction. Be smart about approaching the conversation and have something prepared to say to their potential reactions. Some of the common objectives of interracial dating raised by parents go along the lines of: people will look at you differently; I don’t understand that race; your children could be treated differently, and so on. Think about what your parents and family might say and give yourself some time to process your thoughts and opinions on such objections.
Be confident in your feelings
At the end of the day, you don’t actually need your parents approval. If you like your partner enough, nothing will stand in the way of being together. While you want your family to like your partner, you don’t need their permission to date. When you talk to your family about your partner, make sure you highlight all their good qualities and attributes. Sure, bring up the fact they have a different racial background. But don’t let that be the deciding feature about them. Let your family know how much they make you smile, how intelligent they are, how they have a good work ethic. These are the things that will win your parents and family over, not the colour of their skin!