I’m busy, so busy that it could be easy to not care about family meetings. Yet, I believe in running my family like a business to an extent. All good organizations need meetings to reflect, plan, celebrate, and grow. From extended family meetings at my grandparents’ to the one I run now in my own house, family meetings are essential to our household health. Family time has been keeping us together, grounded, and connected for generations.

At my grandparent’s house, it started with my grandfather’s drumming.

At dawn, his beat called the family to the living room. We sang together, read scriptures, and discussed different daily life challenges, giving our opinions and sharing ideas from our day-to-day experiences. We were sometimes quite groggy at the beginning of those meetings, but those family devotions were a great chance to talk with everyone about the right and wrong ways to go about life.

My mother’s version was a lot more creative.

One time she called my siblings and I around the dining table stacked with snacks and malted drinks for an eating and drinking contest. No one could forget the time when the entire family was commissioned to read through V.S. Naipaul’s “Miguel Street” and how we discussed the various stories as we went through the book together. Sometimes, she brought home a sheet full of riddles or brainteasers and had us sprawled on the floor with pencils and paper trying to get the answers. At other times, everyone gathered to discuss changes that were on the horizon and each of us would give our opinions on the matter.

So, it flowed into my own family.

It kicked off during premarital counselling, when we learned about the parallels of a family and a company. So in the first few years, we held them on the last day of every month. We would grab some time together and review the month: celebrating our successes and acknowledging our stumbles. We’d set new goals for the next month and discuss our budget and make other important decisions. But, it wasn’t all stuffy or formal like some company meetings. They are more like the intermissions we have at the movies in Jamaica: a break time for us to stop the busyness that life can be, assess our reality and get prepped to jump back into the show.

As a child, I assumed every family was run this way.

We never called them ‘family meetings’ at the time, but these times designated to play, learn, and think together were central to how we functioned. Now, that I’m a mother, I see how important regular family meetings are to the harmony in my home. Whether we use the time to practice spiritual disciplines (devotion), set goals, review the budget, do book reviews, or play board games, it is important to schedule regular times for the family to get together. We’re living in a time where toddlers have swim lessons, 8 year olds have sporting competitions, and teenagers are working part-time jobs. Everyone’s schedule is packed that we can too quickly we move past each other without ever really connecting.

As a mother, I want to be intentional about the harmony in my home.

I know it doesn’t all fall into place just because we live in the same space and share DNA. So, even if it’s just 20 minutes a week, I need to set an appointment with my husband and my daughter where it’s just us: playing, learning, and thinking together. From my childhood memories, I know these are the times when family values get defined and passed on, when challenges get addressed and conflicts are resolved. It allows us to plan for family events and align our calendars. We get the chance to share new ideas and have new experiences together.

Sometimes family meetings are scheduled like bill payment day or eat-out night. At other times, they are impromptu like when a problem erupts or when we get home extra early and decide to put on some old music and do crazy dances in the kitchen. Structured or casual, our family meetings are essential to our flow. We take them seriously, and we give each other our full attention.

Mommies, do you pencil in dedicated family time?

Запись I Run My Family Like a Company to Keep Us Together впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

I’m a big believer in learning through play. Little children learn best when their imaginations and hearts are in the forefront. This is why I love dance class for my son.

From the time they can sit up, the tiniest babies love to move. Toddlers can hardly stand up before they’re bouncing and clapping whenever they hear a beat. Dance is such a natural form of expression.

When my son first started dance, I thought it’d be a good social opportunity, but now as we’re getting ready for our second recital, I see that dance is teaching my son to one day be a strong man.

He learns to listen to others.

Since my son isn’t in preschool, dance gives him an opportunity to listen to adults other than his family. Dance class is not a place for wild free-play. It shows that orderly quiet, respectful places can be fun even if it requires waiting for a turn to go across the floor.

He learns to face himself in the mirror.

Dance class takes place in a room of mirrors. Mirrors are vital to be able to see if what you think you’re doing actually matches what you’re doing. This literal self reflection teaches the priceless skill of self-evaluation. Learning to be proud of what you see is equally important.

Dance lets him escape the man box.

This year my son is the only little boy in his class, but that doesn’t worry me. I put him in dance to help him overcome the trappings of the “man box, ” the unwritten rules about what a man can and cannot do and still be respected. These gender conformity guidelines hurt both men and women as Tony Porter explains in a life-changing TED talk:

“Growing up as a boy, we were taught that men had to be tough, had to be strong, had to be courageous, dominating — no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger — and definitely no fear; that men are in charge, which means women are not; that men lead, and you should just follow and do what we say; that men are superior; women are inferior; that men are strong; women are weak; that women are of less value, property of men, and objects, particularly sexual objects. I’ve later come to know that to be the collective socialization of men, better known as the “man box.” See this man box has in it all the ingredients of how we define what it means to be a man. […]

“I come to also look at this as this fear that we have as men, this fear that just has us paralyzed, holding us hostage to this man box. I can remember speaking to a 12-year-old boy, a football player, and I asked him, I said, “How would you feel if, in front of all the players, your coach told you you were playing like a girl?” Now I expected him to say something like, I’d be sad; I’d be mad; I’d be angry, or something like that. No, the boy said to me — the boy said to me, “It would destroy me.” And I said to myself, “God, if it would destroy him to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?””

Dance helps my son be secure in himself and his interests. It helps him value people regardless of their genders. Hopefully, he’ll see that he doesn’t have to live his life trapped in boxes. He can be both the little boy dirty from playing construction trucks in the mud and the one dancing as Beast in ballet slippers. His classmates can be little girls in pretty pink tutus but also strong, smart, funny, and his friends.

He sees that improvement take practice and commitment.

It’s adorable to look in on the class and see how terrible they are the first few times they’re taught something new. In dance, new is not a reason to be worried. It’s just another thing to work on. From day one, it starts with simple moves that become more and more complex, building toward a recital show in front of an audience. It’s amazing as a parent to watch that progress. I can only imagine how it feels as the dancer.

He’s learning to carry himself. 

Posture is important especially as our lives become more hunched over as we work and play on computers, tablets, and phones. I’m hopeful that good posture from ballet will stay with him and help prevent future neck and back pain. Plus, there’s a confidence that can’t be denied from someone who knows how to carry himself.

He was only three years old for his first recital, and we weren’t sure he’d have the confidence to walk out on stage, under those big lights, and perform, but he did. All four times.

I know some people raise an eyebrow because my son takes dance.

As a small child, he has the opportunities to explore and express himself without the baggage of societal expectations. For him to transcend any outside limitations that might try to stunt his success, he has to learn to be comfortable in his own skin. Dance is an amazing place to learn these lessons.

Dance class taps into that innate desire to express self, but it adds guidance and a platform for growth.He probably won’t study dance forever, but the skills he’s learning might one day be the difference that helps him make the cut of the team he wants to join or makes him standout at an important interview. Beyond the coordination and motor skills which are great, my son takes dance because it contributes to his whole self-development.

Запись How My Son’s Ballet Lessons Are Helping Him Develop Character впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

I had always been curious about camping. Something about a tent, a fire, and marshmallows sounded like a lot of fun, but when I brought it up, no one in my family wanted to sleep on the ground outside when we had perfectly good beds inside.

With a child’s eye, I began to notice that other black families seemed to share their sentiments. I was too young to understand the history behind some of it.  Much like why “black people don’t know how to swim, ” many black people don’t camp for historical reasons such as segregation and violence. Being isolated in the woods was not exactly a welcoming place for blacks not so long ago, and beyond that, camping takes resources such as transportation, time, and equipment that I know, for my parents’ childhoods, would have been a constraint even if Jim Crow hadn’t kept them at home.

That all said, though my parents still can’t swim, they made sure that I can, even if the water is still very frightening to them. Sometimes the best parenting decisions for me are the ones that push me out of my comfort zone, so last year we went camping.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t a little uneasy. Not having a door to lock unnerved me in a way I hadn’t expected. I felt so exposed. Despite any fears I had, the most negative experience we had was simply being colder than we anticipated.

Life’s not always about climate controlled comfort.

I love how camping challenges the everyday conveniences such as a thermostat. While it’s easy to focus on what’s lacking in the woods, what it offers in return is substantial.

Of course the scenery is great. I used my camera more than I had in years. Plus, you can really see stars. I didn’t realize how bad light pollution was until I was in the middle of a desert looking up. It was like a new sky, one I had never seen.

We had the most amazing conversations.

Out of consistent cell range, the conversations were free of technological distractions. Since we traveled with friends, it offered the perfect time to reconnect.

I was especially impressed by the intense science and nature lessons my then three-year-old son had while we visited different landscapes. With each stop, he learned more than he ever could in a classroom. Coming up on a year later, he’s still talking about climbing boulders and hiking in the desert.

I loved watching my child in the wilderness.

His curiosity had never been so strong. Always a child with a question, he was absorbed with all the new sights, sounds, and smells. He loved all the opportunities to climb, touch, run, and jump.

Though we go to zoos and watch nature programs, coming up on a wild elk on a trail is very different than seeing one on display. It stirs a whole different part of the soul. I realized if I want my son to be inspired to study science, the best way to accomplish this is just to take him camping.

I wasn’t surprised when I saw that studies have shown that nature exposure increases observation and creativity, reduces stress levels, and helps children with ADD perform better at school. Similarly other studies show that children who have regular experiences outside show more advanced motor skills including balance, coordination, and agility.

My son wasn’t thinking in these research terms. He was just having fun. He can’t wait to sleep in the tent again.

He’s not the only one. The trip came at a pretty stressful time in our lives, yet being surrounded by all that beauty brought me an unexpected calm. I wasn’t surprised later to read that nature is good for mental health. It’s hard not to see the beauty and wonder in life when you’re standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon or looking up at Redwoods so tall they never seem to end.

Now that I’m a person who camps, I have another shared experience with millions of others.

I love that my kids will grow up relating to that experience. They will feel that part of the world belongs to them too. This will contribute to their success because they won’t be held back by stereotypes of what they do and don’t do just because of their race.

Запись Why I Reclaimed My Relationship with the Outdoors as a Black Woman and Went Camping впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

When you hear the term “crack baby, ” you might picture the movie Losing Isaiah with the screaming baby suffering due to his mother’s drug habit.

He was the classic crack baby: disruptive, troubled, and fictional.

Crack babies aren’t a real thing

Yes, some children were exposed in utero to cocaine, but there is no scientific literature to support the theory of the troubled crack baby.

The story of the crack baby myth is one based in racism, classism, politics, and ratings. It began with a doctor who thought that babies exposed to cocaine were suffering unique, extreme effects that would only increase as the children aged. His report was ratings gold.

Doctors at the time questioned the existence

There were doctors who disagreed with the crack baby label and attempted to dispel the myth. Dr. Clare Coles had noted that many of the signs of a crack baby were normal behaviors for premature babies. Yet her rebuttal didn’t make good news.

“Coles’ findings were ignored, however, because they didn’t fit into cultural stereotypes and failed to feed the media narrative. Reporters railed about an estimated $5 billion annual strain on the government, and everyone got extremely worked up because the concept of the “crack baby” plays into sadly familiar ideas of race and class. Since crack was relatively inexpensive and far more prevalent in poor areas, it was convenient to use this fear to justify classist and racist rhetoric (i.e., “poor, black neighborhoods bring their problems onto themselves and cost the rest of us by doing so”), ” Callie Beusman wrote in the article Good News: 1980s ‘Crack Babies’ Epidemic Was Hugely Overblown.

In an interview to the New York Times, Coles said, “There are certain ideas that people want to believe that really fit in with cultural stereotypes, and it’s hard to get rid of those.”

The crack mother was the worst welfare fear

In her book Living Color: Race and Television in the United States, Sarah Torres, a professor of information and media studies, explains the racism behind the media storm: “As a composite “she-devil, ” the crack mother takes the image of the welfare mother, so prominent in the demonology of Reaganism, and fuses it with the sexually aggressive Jezebel. […] A particularly menacing image of fertility, the crack mother personifies an out-of-control black sexuality.”

Torres references quotes from leaders at the time such as Rep. George Miller of the Select Committee on Children who said, “We’re going to have these children, who are the most expensive babies ever born in America, are going to overwhelm every social service delivery system that they come in contact with through the rest of their lives.”

Similarly, a Florida juvenile court judge William Gladstone said, “These kids have enormous, physical problems, mental problems. They will go into a system that is woefully inadequate, woefully underfunded. They’ll grow up to be tomorrow’s delinquents.”

These children weren’t seen as medically frail victims, instead they were presented as a future criminals.

What the research really says about crack babies

The fears about these children were unfounded as current research shows that “[a]lmost every prenatal complication originally thought to be due directly to [prenatal cocaine exposure] was found to result from confounding factors such as poor maternal nutrition, use of other drugs, depression, and lack of prenatal care.”

The studies are not condoning cocaine use. Instead, they found that the actual health impacts are limited, and the children outgrow them.

Poverty and the “crack baby” label hurt the children more

Some researchers think that the low expectations of being a “crack baby” did the most damage. As Michael Lewis, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry, explained to the New York Times:
“in a doctor’s office or a classroom, ‘you cannot tell’ which children were exposed to cocaine before birth.

That report goes on to say that poverty related factors were much more damaging on children’s intellectual and emotional development. Researchers have also found that being labeled as a crack baby negatively impacted the children as they were stigmatized with every physical or behavioral problem being too quickly associated to the lost cause of being a crack baby.

The problem was discussed in an NPR interview with Dr. Hallam Hurt, neonatologist and professor of pediatrics:

Host Michel Martin: Do you worry, though, that a whole generation of kids [..] was written off essentially because people believed that they weren’t capable of very much? I wonder if you ever think that maybe more kids could’ve achieved at a higher level, if people had not been so quick to believe that they couldn’t do anything.

Dr. Hallam Hurt: I absolutely believe that. And I think that one of the most deleterious things is when a child might have been identified as quote, that pejorative term, crack kid, in school. And often they were written off.

These children were most definitely victims though the culprits turned out to be more complicated than drug abuse.

Had you heard this updated information? Are you surprised?

Запись New Studies Show the “Crack Baby” Was a Media Myth Designed to Frighten Whites and Criminalize Black Children впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

February means a return of all the classic Black History Month activities at school, but there’s so much more you can do to teach your kids about our history than a coloring sheet of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From crafts to recipes, these activities will engage your children and make history come alive.

1. Create a cardboard airplane craft and teach them about Bessie Coleman or the Tuskegee Airmen. 

2. Follow this tutorial on how to make an astronaut costume for your child.  Then teach them about Guion Bluford, Mae Jemison and other black astronauts.

3. Make a fun traffic light craft while introducing your child to Garrett Morgan.  Continue with this lesson by playing Red Light, Green Light.

4. Make these spaghetti brooms or this bookmark broom craft.  Then read Jumping the Broom by Sonia W. Black to teach your child about this African American tradition.  When we read this story to our daughter, we also looked through our wedding photos and shared pictures of mommy and daddy jumping the broom.

5. Follow this tutorial by making a paper version of Kente Cloth.  Complement this activity by reading Kente Colors by Debbie Chocolate or The Spider Weaver: A Legend Of Kente Cloth by Margaret Musgrove.  In the March 2014 issue of Ladybug magazine, there is a tear out craft for children to make a Kente Cloth picture frame, as well as a short story that gives some cultural context for Kente cloth.  See if your local library subscribes to it or look into ordering a back issue.  For students in grades 3-5 The Brooklyn Children’s Museum has a wonderful list of activities centered around African Textiles.

 

6. George Washington Carver is famous for creating products based off the peanut, but he also researched soybeans, cotton, and sweet potatoes.  Try growing a sweet potato with your child and watch it sprout. Make African Peanut Soup or homemade peanut butter.  While you are participating in these activities, use your five senses and describe the texture of the shelled peanuts or potato skin. Explain that Carver was a scientist and tell them about the observation skills scientist use.

7. Create a DIY stamp while learning about W. B. Purvis who invented and patented improvements to the fountain pen, two machines for making paper bags, a bag fastener, a self-inking hand stamp, and several devices for electric railroads.

8.  Play dress up!  Choose an African American history maker and dress up your child like that person. Need some inspiration? Check out Enuique Jones’s Because of them We Can campaign.  Her youtube page and facebook are filled with images of precious children dressed up as famous and lesser known Black history trail blazers.

9. Be inspired by reading this Essence.com’s slide show of how celebrity moms teach their kids about our history and culture.

Mommies, how to you teach Black history and culture to your children?  Are there other ideas you would add to this list? Please share.

Запись 9 Craft Activities That Teach Preschoolers About Black History and Culture впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

By Claire Niala for The Natural Child Project

I was born and grew up in Kenya & Cote d’Ivoire. Then from the age of fifteen I lived in the UK. However, I always knew that I wanted to raise my children (whenever I had them) at home in Kenya. And yes, I assumed I was going to have them. I am a modern African woman with two university degrees and I am a fourth generation working woman – but when it comes to children, I am typically African. The assumption remains that you are not complete without them; children are a blessing it would be crazy to avoid. Actually the question does not even arise.

I started my pregnancy in the UK. The urge to deliver at home was so strong that I sold my practice, setup a new business and moved house / country within five months of finding out I was pregnant. I did what most expectant mothers in the UK do – I read voraciously: Our Babies, Ourselves, Unconditional Parenting, anything by the Searses – the list goes on. (My grandmother later commented that babies don’t read books – and really all I needed to do was “read” my baby). Everything I read said that African babies cried less than European babies. I was intrigued as to why.

When I went home I observed. I looked out for mothers and babies and they were everywhere (though not very young African ones – those under six weeks were mainly at home). The first thing I noticed is that despite their ubiquitousness it is actually quite difficult to actually “see” a Kenyan baby. They are usually incredibly well wrapped up before being carried or strapped onto their mother (sometimes father).

Even older babies already strapped onto a back are then further protected from the elements by a large blanket. You would be lucky to catch a limb, never mind an eye or nose. It is almost a womb-like replication in the wrapping. The babies are literally cocooned from the stresses of the outside world into which they are entering.

My second observation was a cultural one. In the UK it was understood that babies cry – in Kenya it was quite the opposite. The understanding is that babies don’t cry. If they do – something is horribly wrong and must be done to rectify it immediately. My English sister-in-law summarized it well. “People here” she said “really don’t like babies crying, do they?”

It all made much more sense when I finally delivered and my grandmother came from the village to visit. As it happened – my baby did cry a fair amount, and exasperated and tired, I forgot everything I had ever read and sometimes joined in the crying too. Yet for my grandmother it was simple – nyonyo (breastfeed her!). It was her answer to every single peep.

There were times when it was a wet nappy, or the fact that I had put her down, or that she needed burping that was the problem, but mainly she just wanted to be at the breast – it didn’t really matter whether she was feeding or just having a comfort moment. I was already wearing her most of the time and co-sleeping with her, so this was a natural extension to what we were doing.

I suddenly learned the not-so-difficult secret as to the joyful silence of African babies. It was a simple needs-met symbiosis that required a total suspension of ideas of “what should be happening” and an embracing of what was actually going on in that moment. The bottom line was that my baby fed a lot – far more than I had ever read about anywhere and at least five times as much as some of the stricter feeding schedules I had heard about.

Read the rest at The Natural Child Project.

Запись Why Africans are the Originators of Attachment Parenting впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

Although we are no longer a British colony, we’re still constitutional subjects of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and many citizens are fans of the pomp and circumstance that unfolds during state visits by members of the British Royal family. So, we appreciate the political post of ‘princess’ that a woman can hold: as the daughter or granddaughter of a king/queen (like Princess Margaret), or as the wife of a prince (like Princess Diana). In our minds, a princess is never a vain, pampered, sheltered snob with no work experience. Instead, we commonly refer to young females of noble (admirable and dignified) character as ‘Princess’ – based on our matriarchal society and the influence of Rastafari culture.

We have our own local (non-European) female royals in the roles of Beauty Queens, Festival Queens and Dancehall Queens, as well as Rastafari Empresses, Maroon Chieftainesses and Kumina Queens – all of whom are held to higher standards and honoured by the public for what they symbolise. In fact, any woman who dresses modestly, walks confidently and celebrates her natural beauty will often be greeted, “Good morning, Empress!” or “Greetings, Princess” by both men and women in the street; making it no surprise that both 2Face Idibia’s “African Queen” and Tarrus Riley’s “She’s Royal” have been big hits in Jamaica for years.

In contrast to our constitutional monarchy, we have the great legacy of an African Queen, Nanny of the Maroons, who is our national heroine. Queen Nanny was an Ashanti royal who was brought to Jamaica (sold into slavery), but she escaped from the plantation into the mountains before she freed other enslaved Africans and formed her own militant ‘nation’ within the nation. Queen Nanny’s leadership and superior military strategies were so imposing and unmatched, that the English soldiers and government were never able to defeat her. Instead, they sought alliance with the Maroons, offered peace treaties to them and gave the Maroon settlements political autonomy.

The legend of our Warrior Queen has inspired millions of Jamaican girls to be like Nanny – a powerful woman who leads, nurtures and fights for her people. She was my favourite national hero! It is in this tradition of honouring feminine nobility, that I call my daughter ‘Princess’. Not the Disney princess that waits for her prince to come rescue her from vane boredom, but a “warrior princess” like so many who have gone before us. Although I grew up admiring the leadership and strength of our Queen Nanny, I have also learnt of other Warrior Queens and Princesses who serve as powerful role models for young, black girls and women of today. Some of the militant royals that I want my daughter to emulate are:

• Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of the Ashanti empire (part of modern-day Ghana) who led the War of the Golden Stool against the British colonisers. When she saw the men of her empire whimpering at the threats of the invaders, she declared that she would defend her people to the death.

• Nzinga Mbande, Queen of the Ndongo & Matamba kingdoms of Angola, led a 30-year war against the Portuguese who were trying to colonise her people and expand the slave trade. She was never defeated in any of her military missions – even though her armies and weaponry were ‘inferior’ to that of the Europeans.

• Amanirenas, was Queen Mother of the Meroetic kingdom of Kush. When the Romans invaded her neighbours and decided to tax her people, she led her armies into war against them. After 5 years of battling against the Romans, Amanirenas defeated them and forced them to withdraw the tax which had threatened the Kushite kingdom.

• Taitu Betul, the Empress of the Ethiopian empire, founded the city of Addis Ababa and was a military strategist who initiated the War of Adwa when she discovered Italy’s plot to colonise Ethiopia. She led her own battalion alongside her husband, Emperor Menelik II, and the Imperial Army, defeating the Italians.

• Hatshepshut, Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Ancient Egypt, came to power after her husband died and she reigned for 20 years. Not interested in invading other territories, she maintained peace during her reign and focused on securing economic prosperity for Egypt. She built and restored many monuments throughout both Egyptian kingdoms and is considered one of the most successful Pharaohs in history.

• Amina Sukhera, was the Hausa Queen of Zazzau (part of present-day Nigeria) for 34 years. She was a fierce warrior who led the military in battles and expanded her kingdom by claiming other neighbouring territories. Her innovation led to the introduction of metal armour to her military forces, since her kingdom was known for excellent metalwork.

• Elizabeth Bagaaya, the Princess Royal of the Toro Kingdom in Uganda, is a lawyer (the first East African woman to be accepted to the English Bar), and a Diplomat (at the United Nations). During her youth, she worked as a Model and Actress, paving the way for many black women in these industries. Today, she serves Uganda as their High Commissioner to Nigeria.

 
So, when you hear me call my little girl, “Princess” please remember these great African women: true royals who were fearless in the execution of their duties. Our little, black girls need to be fed the stories of black women who were models of leadership, courage, dignity, intelligence, diplomacy, entrepreneurship, compassion and beauty. These are the qualities of a princess – a woman of authority who earns respect and exudes an uncommon beauty – not like the ones you see in the fairytales.

Didan Ashanta is a natural living enthusiast who blogs at DidanAshanta.com. A native of Jamaica, she currently lives in Tokyo with her husband and 1-year-old daughter.

Запись 7 Historical Warrior Princesses I Want My Daughter to Emulate впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

1. Grace Bush is a young lady that comes from a family of high achievers.  She was homeschooled, along with her older siblings, and was astonishingly able to graduate from college before graduating high school.  (The college ceremony was scheduled before the high school ceremony, but technically she received both her diploma and Bachelor’s degree in the same month.) Her mother attributes some of her aptitude to having supporting examples in her older siblings.  Grace began taking college courses at Broward College at the age of 13 and was simultaneously enrolled in high school. After graduation Grace plans to continue her education in pursuit of a Masters degree while preparing for the LSAT.  I am confident we will see her in the history books accomplishing great things.  Go head girl!

2. Who needs high school when you can go straight to college?  By age 11, Thessalonika Arzu-Embry had enrolled in community college, after having been homeschooled through early grades, and was able to complete her bachelor’s studies at Chicago University by age 14 when most students across the USA are just entering their freshman year in high school. Thessalonika says:

“My college experience is a traditional college experience for me — it is just that I have completed it faster, ” Thessalonika said. “I am very excited about joining others in having the opportunity to contribute to society in a significant way.”

Thessalonika’s mother was also a graduate student of the university, and the family plans to open a clinical practice.

3. Mathematics is commonly thought of as a difficult subject to master, and requires developmental stages to happen before children can comprehend certain concepts, but that hasn’t stopped Steven Stafford from becoming a Morehouse College student before becoming a teenager.  Steven is a triple major, in computer science, mathematics, and pre-med.  He was kept on track to take advantage of his exceptional abilities by his homeschooling parents.  Steven does not like the term “prodigy” and has this to say about being exceptional:

“At the end of the day, I go home and play video games like a 13-year-old would like to play. I don’t think I’m any more special than the next kid. I just learned fast because I had the resources to. My mother is the reason I was able to do that. I’m just using my potential. The only way to know it is to use it. I just love moving forward. I really do. When I slow down, I don’t like it. I know I can do better than this, so why slow down?”

4. Martinique Stafford is Steven Staffords sister, who was also homeschooled.  While most 17 year olds are completing their junior year in high school Martinique was completing her freshman year at Georgia Southern University.  At 19 years old she was a Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society inductee.  Exceptional academic achievement runs in the family.  Major kudos to the Stafford family.

5.  Saheela Ibraheem is a young marvel, at age 15 she had her pick of several top-tier colleges to attend, including MIT, Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, University of Chicago and others.  The exemplary teen settled on attending Harvard at the advice of her younger brother who also wishes to attend the school one day.  Not surprisingly, Saheela had great SAT scores to complement her vigor for academics.  She modestly explains that “anyone who’s motivated can work wonders.”

The Imafidons are commonly referred to as Britain’s smartest family

6.Anne-Marie Imafidon who speaks six languages and at age 10 passed two GCSE’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education).  She went on to attend John Hopkins University in Baltimore and got her masters degree from Oxford University, all before she turned 20 years old.

7. Christina Imafidon who is one of Anne-Marie’s sisters was the youngest student in history to attend a British university

8. Samantha Imafidon at the age of 6 had passed two high school-level mathematics and statistics exams. She also became the youngest girl in the UK to attend secondary school when she was 9 years old.

Moms, how do you feel about skipping grades?  Are these young people exceptional or just normal kids who had resources,  like Steven Stafford says?

Angele is a wife to a wonderful creative husband, mother to two beautiful intelligent daughters and a lover of art, education and laughter.  She is the creator and author of ABC remix.

Запись 8 Black Kids Who Completed High School and Entered College At An Early Age впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

While many women take it easy in their last few week of pregnancy, 28-year-old track star Alysia Montaño was competing at a high level track event! The married and 34-weeks-pregnant star competed in the 800 m event at the US Track and Field Championship to defend her 2011 victory. Although she came in last, she received a standing ovation as she crossed the finish line and had this to say;

I’ve been running throughout my pregnancy and I felt really, really good during the whole process… I just didn’t want to get lapped and be the first person to get lapped in the 800.

And though you might be concerned about her unborn child, you shouldn’t. Doctors cleared her for competition — and even encouraged her to keep training throughout her pregnancy.

Check out ESPN’s interview with Alysia, which includes video of her crossing the finish line;

Запись 8 Month Pregnant Track Star Competes in US Track and Field Championship впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.

My Grandfather had just arrived home from a long day at work and sat down in his favourite spot on the verandah. Of course, I quickly climbed into his lap to snuggle up with my book of nursery rhymes. He read them so eloquently, rounding his mouth as he carefully fed the rhythmic words to my ears. My eyes bounced in rhythm from the curvy letters to the colourful illustrations on the pages.

These are some of the earliest memories of my life – Grandpa reading nursery rhymes to me. So, it felt quite natural to hold my newborn’s tiny feet and recite, “This Little Piggy” – until I got to the part about a pig eating the flesh of a roasted cow! Why hadn’t I noticed before, that a roast beef sandwich was being consumed by another farm animal? I quickly changed the lyric to “roast yam” – since it’s a popular Jamaican dish and fit well into my family’s plant-based diet. But, I still had more of these poems and songs to scrutinise in the weeks and months to come.

Picking Apart Nursery Rhymes

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song that’s designed for young children. The ones I grew up learning originated in Britain (since Jamaica was once a British colony) and they included riddles and proverbs. Some of them recorded historical events, English customs and superstitions, while others were tongue twisters,  memory aids and ring games. These nursery rhymes have effortlessly stayed with us for centuries because they are included in many early childhood school curriculums, and not without good reason. They are excellent tools to aid in optimal child development particularly because they are based in music and rhyme. Activities that include both music and rhyme will build your child’s spatial reasoning ability, which is the springboard for their success in the STEM fields. They benefit your child’s numeracy development, since many, like “1, 2 Buckle My Shoe”,  include counting and logic, like “As I Was Going To St. Ives”. The hearing or recitation of some of these songs and poems may be the first activity to introduce numbers to your little one, and most likely in a fun and entertaining way.

Nursery Rhymes may also be used as memory aids, because they are repetitive and predictable; and mnemonic rhymes like “Thirty Days Hath September”, are still used by adults to recall common info from day to day. Yet, the most obvious benefit (and my primary reason for sharing nursery rhymes with my baby girl) is the development of literacy and language skills. Children’s poems and songs are filled with new vocabulary, rhythm, pitch and literary devices, like alliteration (e.g. “Peas Porridge Hot”), onomatopoeia (e.g. “Old McDonald”) and rhyme (e.g. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”). 

So, you may come across the ideas that children who have memorised 8 nursery rhymes by age 4, will become excellent readers and spellers. Though the exact amount of rhymes is probably irrelevant, the connection between rhyming activities during early child and reading skills during school years, is clear. There are more benefits that can be derived from feeding our little ones these songs and chants, but we also know the words and backgrounds of some of these catchy rhymes aren’t all kosher.

Sinister & Negative Rhymes

Many of Britain’s traditional nursery rhymes are said to have sinister backgrounds. Some are thought to be satires about periods of political or religious upheaval,  while others are the retellings of local scandals. I’ll go over a few of the possible tales that generated some of our favourite rhymes:

Peter Peter Pumkin Eater – A jealous husband kills his wife and stores her dismembered body inside a hollowed out pumpkin shell after he was unable to keep her control her promiscuous and adulterous behaviour.

Lucy Locket – A bar maid dumps her pocket sugar daddy, but gets into a brawl with another prostitute after the latter takes him on and brags about her fortune in finding him.

Ring Around the Rosie – Millions of children die during the pandemic called the Black Death. There are so many bodies that burials are too burdensome, so they are collected and cremated amass. The ashes blow everywhere.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary – A zealous queen tortures and slaughters subjects who chose a different religious denomination from her, filling her garden graveyard with them.

Georgie Porgie – A court gentleman has affairs with the wives of other gentlemen of the court, and sometimes his exploits are not consensual or welcomed by the women.

Three Blind Mice – The ‘bloody’ queen found out that a trio of men did not approve of her religious persecution and decided to treat them to her specialty of torture and death, for their lack of vision.

Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe – Although there is a political backstory, the plain reading is still disturbing. Since she is unable to care for her many hungry children, she gives them flavoured water and ensures they feel the weight of her hands.

Jack & Jill – Some point to the beheading of a King and his Queen, while others refer to the King’s request for an increase in the liquor tax which was denied. The sly monarch responded by halving the volume of a Jack (2.5 fluid ounces) and, inadvertently, a Gill (2 Jacks or 5 fluid ounces).

If you do just a little research you may find supportive arguments for these backstories and also arguments declaring they are just pure, nonsensical lines. There’s a Jamaica proverb which says, “Ef anoh soh, a nayli soh” which translates to, “If it isn’t the truth, it’s very close.” So,  it is up to each person to decide whether these verses are coded historical narrative, covert protest and propaganda, or feel-good tunes to aid a child’s learning. Either way, rhymes and music are key tools for child development. So, we can either sift through the rubble and teach our little ones the old British nursery rhymes we approve of, or opt for other rhythmic songs and poems that will just as easily do the job.

Didan Ashanta is a natural living enthusiast who blogs at DidanAshanta.com. A native of Jamaica, she currently lives in Tokyo with her husband and 1-year-old daughter.

Запись 8 Popular Nursery Rhymes With Dark Meanings впервые появилась Baby & Blog | Celebrating Black Mommyhood.