What are the challenges of being biracial?

Children who are born with biracial identity face special challenges in social situations. One of the general ways of defining biracial identity is that of having one parent of African descent and one of European descent. From a historical perspective, there was once a commonly held (if racist) belief that if any child had even a small amount of African ancestry (also known as the "one drop rule" referring to one drop of African blood, or one black ancestor), that child was automatically labeled black. This approach has largely become debunked and is considered archaic, although among white supremacist groups, this racist belief is still not uncommon.
Racial self-identification in biracial children is one major issue facing their socialization. Children who experience racism may choose not to "de-identify" with their biracial identity. The main source of such racism arises from physiognomy, the process of assuming someone's ancestry or race based upon specific facial characteristics. This includes judgments made based on light or dark skin color, as well as texture of hair, and the shape of different facial features. Lighter skin color apparently allows more latitude in terms of self-identification, especially among biracial children who are of Latin American or Native American ancestry.
Researchers identify the three main categories of self-identification among biracial children as "singularly white, border identity, protean and transcendent identity" (see link below). Studies have also shown that a child's community, specifically the racial make-up of that community, can also have an effect on racial self-identification.
One common coping mechanism employed by children experiencing difficulties navigating biracial identity is known as "race switching," in which a child may move fluidly from one identity to the other in various ways including social groupings, social activities, speech, grooming, clothing, hobbies, and others.