That Ang Mo Baby

Recently, the family visits have been more intense. My belly is getting bigger, and I’m closer to my due date. It is all becoming surreal, that I would have a mini me, running around the house, fighting for my attention.

However, this is going to be the first mix blooded baby on my maternal relatives side, and it seems like everyone is referring to my bum as “that Ang Mo baby”.

I mean, I feel fine for my child to be refered as an “Ang mo” casually in daily talk, but when it is being pin pointed as “THE” Ang mo baby, I started to feel abit uncomfortable.

My baby girl, actively kicking in my tummy, is going to be born half Singaporean and half Scottish. She is going be as Singaporean as she is Scottish. I know singaporeans are often insensitive to such remarks, often giving a racial group a nickname for association. Often, they mean it as a tease, to praise that my child will have such unique features like no other child in the family due to her mixed heritage.

However, I remember as a child all I wanted to be is part of the family, a group, just like everyone else. Is it fair to make a child question her/his identity because such differences are pointed out at such a young age?

I once had a relative say to her own child about my husband, “look at that Ang mo? Weird looking anot?”

And although the tone did not mean any harm, the reality that it was ok to say another race was weird looking to a baby, was worrying.