If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Perhaps the greatest love of my life is my daughter, Omoye. As she's grown older, the two of us have forged a bond of friendship to go along with that father-daughter love. I love her spirit and her playfulness; it brings out the playfulness in me.
My previous post on Black Voices was about how hard it is for adults to talk about sex -- with each other! So you can imagine how tough it is for us to talk about it with our kids. But talk we must!
As of last night Michael B. Jordan ended his riveting, sympathetic arc on NBC's Parenthood. Now that he's gone, I can talk about him -- and the way his interracial dating arc was handled.
If you had asked me as a teenager what I was going to be when I grew up, I might have said Pulitzer prize winning writer or Emmy award winning producer, but stay at home mom? Nope. Never.
The disheartening reality is that America has billions of dollars to fight a two-front war, but cannot or will not properly educate its children.
With HuffPost BlackVoices's month-long Parenting section, we hope to help you maximize your family time, and minimize the time you spend feeling frustrated by budgets and behavior and getting your kid to eat broccoli.
Regardless of how certain I feel most of the time, I can't escape these moments when I am overwhelmed by the many obstacles I continue to face as I press forward, pregnant and without a partner.
It started out innocently enough with a simple question, "So what types of books do you enjoy?" but it quickly grew to "Are these books affecting young girls' risk behaviors and with whom are they discussing these books? "
Co-parenting is tough. Putting your own wants and needs side-by-side with the child's and yes, the other parent's too, helps create a mutual willingness to do the right thing.
No child should be subjected to corporal punishment in school, but what's even worse is that corporal punishment is being disproportionately applied against African-American students and students with disabilities.
When I heard about the likely accidental homicide of Dominique Frazier at Bowie State, then saw Alexis Simpson's mug shot and read the quote Alexis reportedly uttered before fleeing the scene, my heart divided its empathies.
My friend recently told me to check out the black parents quotes trend on Twitter. Reading through the quotes, I noted many familiar phrases I heard growing up from my own loving mother.
I was recently speaking with a teenaged girl who said: "I adore my father but I would never date anyone like him. He treats me like a princess, but I don't like the way he treats women."
As rampant unemployment and housing foreclosures ravage families across our nation, an increasing number of children are living in households headed by grandparents and other relatives, often three generations sharing scarce resources due to the recession.
While youth can do serious damage to others, it is easier to build a child than repair an adult, and that is why crime prevention should begin very early.
I've got to be honest. I am not a huge fan of "sagging." I hate to think that I'm an unenlightened, fuddy-duddy in my own frustration with this particular style. But, my objections may be more nuanced than most.
