Interrupting White silence with my children

Interrupting White silence with my children

by Sachi Feris On Wednesday, November 9th, the day after Election Day, I picked up my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter from school with my fourteen-month-old in the baby carrier and told her that we were headed to Manhattan to a protest Trump’s…

The curriculum I created for my children: Combating “Why is the bad guy brown?”

by guest blogger Martha Haakmat My teenage daughters now tease me about the number of times the words “diversity” and “race” came up at our dinner table as they grew up in our family. My middle daughter does an imitation…

"But are we Arab?"; Creating meaning of my children's identities, Part Two

“But are we Arab?”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part Two

by Sachi Feris To read Part One of this post, click here. When I was little, I always claimed, somewhat proudly, that I was “a quarter Lebanese” and that “my dad was born in Cuba” perhaps because it made me different….

“I want to be Mexican like Dora!”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part One

“I want to be Mexican like Dora!”; Creating meaning of my children’s identities, Part One

by Sachi Feris Like many children, my daughter’s first introduction to cartoon characters has been through marketing. She first met Dora, for example, on a band aid. A year ago, during a one-month stay in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico, we…

What I tell my son about the sexist media

by guest blogger Janet Alperstein After attending “Fiddler on the Roof” my eight-year-old Jewish Day School-educated son, made it his business to memorize the verse about the sons in “Tradition:” “At three I started Hebrew school, at ten I learned…

Beyond fear: Talking to my four-year-old about Donald Trump

Beyond fear: Talking to my four-year-old about Donald Trump

by guest blogger Jenny Levine-Smith This has been a dicey year to be a parent of young children. Along with many of you, I’ve been heartbroken, over and over again, at what I see and hear on the news: Americans…

My Family Builders: Talking race, gender and family structures

My Family Builders: Talking race, gender and family structures

by guest blogger Shannon Cofrin Gaggero Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are those of the author. I’m always on the hunt for children’s books and toys that are diverse and feature individuals and families beyond the typical “white-and-heterosexual-as-norm” narrative. We…

Five-year-old White kids can stand up and say “stop”; And so can police officers

by guest blogger Jennifer Harvey Dear White people, and particularly police officers and those who have police officers in their lives, I am White mother to my two White children. Now let me share a story: A few months ago, my nephew…

What I could have said: Addressing racial stereotypes in kindergarten

What I could have said: Addressing racial stereotypes in kindergarten

by guest blogger Courtney Woods It was just another moment in kindergarten, when the teacher (me) was ushering, begging, pleading that all the energetic and excited little bodies stop what they’re doing and come to the carpet for a story. There…

Preparing children for critical race consciousness: A resource for parents and teachers

Preparing children for critical race consciousness: A resource for parents and teachers

by guest blogger Dr. Elford Rawls-Dill, PhD  I can still remember reading the words penned by Paulo Freire, “…No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are.” I first read these…