We don’t often take the kids to see movies in the theater, but I was really eager to take them to see Big Hero 6. We caught a glimpse of the trailers over the summer and the short bits we saw had us cracking up. That alone had me interested. Then I started hearing talk […]
Thoughts on the Value of School Diversity
This time last year, we were getting ready to move everything we owned (and, oh man, that stuff adds up over a decade!) into a temporary rental home. We had bought our house when Zip was still an infant – before I had a child in school and was starting to think about school and […]
Raising Kids of Color: When Classmates Comment On Your Preschooler’s “Brown”
“Davey and Isaac said they couldn’t see past my brown.” I was busy washing dishes, only half-listening as my 4-year-old chattered about this and that, and almost “mmm-hmmm’ed” us right past this comment. “They what?” “They said they couldn’t see past my brown.” And there it was – the first time one of my children […]
Supporting Healthy Identity In Our Mixed Kids: Early Elementary School, Part 2
Yesterday I offered a “cheat sheet” on what kids generally understand about race, as they enter the early elementary school years (let’s say kindergarten through 2nd grade). Today we get into the good stuff. What can we do, as parents, to promote a strong and healthy sense of self in our biracial kids? How can […]
Supporting Healthy Racial Identity in Our Mixed Race Kids: Early Elementary School, Part 1
A few months ago I shared some thoughts on helping biracial toddlers and preschoolers develop a healthy racial identity. Actually, it was more of a post about laying the foundation for healthy racial identity, because little ones aren’t particularly aware of race. I used my “mixed race family Bibles” – I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla by Dr. Marguerite Wright and […]