My Perfect Brown Blog — line

Whenever I would go shopping for my daughter, I would find it hard to discover t-shirts (the staple of most young girl’s outfits) that I felt were either age appropriate and or spoke to who I knew my daughter to be, which is a beautiful brown girl. When we saw a tee with images of children, they would never look like her and many would use words such as sassy and diva. What frustrated me, even more, was seeing that the products available in the stores we frequent didn’t represent or reflect our cultures. As parents of color shopping for...

During the week Malaya and I have a routine. Right before it’s time for us to head out the door to school we always go through a checklist of must-haves. Malaya did you put your lunch in your backpack? Yes! Did you pack your homework? Yes! Did you put lotion on your face and arms? Nope! Go put some lotion on! Ok. Did you pack your jacket? Got it! So we head out hoping to make it to her school before the last bell rings! (15 minutes later) we made it with 5 minutes to spare! She kisses me goodbye...

When raising kids at times it can take a village. Sometimes you may seek/need help and or advice and other times people are just berating you for it. Even with all the great insight, wisdom and traditions, there is no law that you have to follow and or use any of it (even when given with the best of intentions.) Your relationship with your child is a personal journey in which you may know your child better than anyone else, especially in the early years. When making decisions about your children sometimes you have to trust your thoughts and feelings...

Soccer, basketball, baseball, drama, gymnastics, swim club, Lego club, band, club, karate, boy/girl scouts. These are the weekly activities (at least 4) of the average elementary student! So when I’m asked by a parent “what activities does Malaya do?” I reply, “band”(smiling as if I got away with a crime) and they take pause expecting to hear the rest of the list! I don’t know where the concept came from that you have to fill every waking minute of your child’s life with an activity. I barely have time for the basics such as preparing dinner, working on homework, eating,...

  As a father of a little black girl, I was always conscious when it came to how Malaya was put together. From her hair to the way she dressed was important to me and even more so when she started a school that wasn’t very diverse. I knew this would eventually bring to light differences between her and her friends when it came to things such as hair texture and skin color. So when she brought up the subject of her hair I wasn’t surprised but not quite ready for it and of course, the first thing she brought...