Yes, I'm The Sitter..For Life!!

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Gina of MommyPosh.com. She stumbled upon my blog and discovered that we had some things in common-like being mistaken for our children’s nanny! Today she shares her I’m Not the Nanny experience. Thanks Gina!

When my husband and I started dating in 1999, you could say that it was US against the world. When I first met my husband, I had noticed his broad smile and kind eyes and knew that he was the The One, no one had ever looked at me with that kind of love and respect before. So as our friendship grew so did our love for one another. However, no one could have prepared us for the questions being asked about our ever dying love for one another…have you dated a white boy before or you know that she’s black, right? aren’t your afraid of what people will say? …since we were so much in love with one another guess we missed the obvious, me being a Black/Spanish girl from Brooklyn and him, an Italian/Irish boy from the suburbs, was a combo that neither of us saw, until it was pointed out to us each and every day.

So days, months and years past and we noticed that the stares and judgements no longer seem to exist, that we have noticed of or maybe we just didn’t care. However, until the day I found out I was pregnant with my son, the black/white issue appeared its ugly head again…wonder what skin color your son will have or will he have “black” hair. Silly questions to you my readers, but its the reality, with questions of race, color and religion always being debatable.

So, let’s fast forward a year and half later and one would think by now that my hubby and I would be used to the “race” questions, but because my son who fairs his daddy’s complexion, now leaves pending questions for those outsiders who I’ve seen giving me and my son “the look”.

The first time it happened, I was at our local play gym, my then 6-month-old son, was happily crawling around, while I stood nearby to help him along the way. Being a first time mom, I was extra cautious and walked every step behind my little one, I couldn’t image anything happening to him. Guess I was doing such a great job, because a smiling women approached me and asked “oh, how cute is he…how much do you charge for your nanny services? you seem really good with him.” um, WHAT??!! NANNY SERVICES??!! I am not knocking the profession, its a great one, but seriously, when did I become my son’s nanny? Oh what I wouldn’t give to have given her a black eye….

My husband laughed it off when I told him the story, “oh don’t be mad, you know how people are.” But why did I still have to urge to put her in her place.

Now I guess you can say that I have come to terms with it, I still get “those” questions, like “Is he adopted?” or “Where did you get him from!” (um, my vagina, I wanna scream)…now I just laugh it off and know that my son will be taught how to think differently when it comes to race, he will have friends of all races, and date people of all nationalities.

Most of all, he will be accepting and open minded to see people for more than just the color of their skin.

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Gina Pomponio is a social mom maven. She is the founder of MommyPosh.com, a website catered to fashion and beauty particularly for mothers. The website was born when stay-at-home mom Gina channeled her previous beauty business knowledge to bridge her love of fashion and motherhood. Check out her blog on Mommy Posh and follow her tweets on @mommyposh.