Interracial Marriages and Biracial Children Children of mixed
parentage account for a growing population in early childhood
programs. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
reported 620,000 births of children with one Black and one White
parent in 1990 and predicted a continuing increase. A similar
pattern is seen for marriages between other races and for the
birth of children with other dual heritages. Much like divorce,
the stress related to interracial marriages comes from society's
disapproval of the unions of two people of different races. The
stress for children comes from a kind of ambiguous ethnicity or
conflicts about their dual ethnic identity. Early childhood
educators are aware of the connection between a child's success
and his or her racial/ethnic self-esteem. Identity is an
emerging concept for young children. For young biracial or
bicultural children it is a fluid or changing identity,
depending on the child's development and environment (California
Child Care Health Program, 2000).