Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A New Parenting Magazine for Multi-Culti Families Like Mine and Yours

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Sometimes I'm just amazed at the resources out there for people like me. You know, Black women married to Spanish men, raising bilingual, bicultural kids. You know, professional women interested in advancing the conversation about race and identity. You know, moms who sometimes just like to watch Fashion Star on TV and dream about having the time to actually care about the clothes they throw on every morning. Clothes that they know will be covered in kid slime by the end of the day.

So, yes, dear readers, when I come across some of these glorious resources, I have to share, because I figure, some of you must be like me.


I have to give a shout-out to InCulture Parent. If I was going to start a parenting magazine, this would be it. From their website, here's what they are all about:

InCultureParent.com - Raising little global citizens. An online magazine for parents raising little global citizens, whose mission is to foster great understanding across cultures through the lens of parenting.  Articles on raising multicultural and multilingual children, parenting around the world, columns on the religious life of children, international adoption and multicultural living, blogs, global holidays/crafts/recipes, multicultural children’s book reviews and much more.



I stayed up last night, way past my bedtime and read almost every story on the site. I wanted to chat with almost every single contributing writer and I was inspired and encouraged by many. To wit, after reading a great story about why African babies cry less than "Western" babies, I decided not to despair about letting babygirl sleep with me last night. She generally sleeps with me for a short period, then I try to slip her back into her bed so she doesn't get spoiled nestling next to mommy. Needless to say, night time isn't very restful for anybody.


But last night, I decided to go all the way African, indulge babygirl and let her nurse and nestle at will. And guess what, without me worrying about getting her back to bed, we both slept like angels. (El esposo did too, but he can sleep through a hurricane so, that's not saying much.) It felt good and guilt free. And, maybe I'm overreaching (which I probably am, considering the author was Kenyan, which I am not.), but I felt culturally correct in my choices. You know, justified.


So, dear readers, check out InCulture Parent and give them some love. I've already added them to my blogroll over there on the side. You might want to as well.


So, party people, do you have any resources for mommies like us that you'd like to share? Please don't keep them to yourselves. We are all listening.


Peace!

Don't forget, you have one more day to comment, in order to win a copy of Julia Alvarez's new book, A Wedding in Haiti.

4 comments:

Stephanie-InCultureParent said...

Lori! Thank you so much for this fantastic shout out to InCultureParent. That COMPLETELY made my morning.

And I know what you mean about J. Claire Niala's articles on African parenting. She's a fantastic writer and thanks to her, my in-laws and some other fresh around the world perspectives, I totally changed my views on infants and sleep.

I would also love to have you submit something. If you are raising your kids bilingual, we would also love to interview you as a Real Intercultural Family.

Thanks so much again! I'm enjoying my coffee with a smile now.

Erin Michelle said...

I don't have kids but I do love this magazine :)

Professor Tharps said...

Stephanie,
You are most welcome. And I meant every word I said. Thank you for creating the magazine I'd like to read.

EM,
Wonderful!

FMC said...

Man creates culture and culture is the means to create and enrich himself. Multiculturalism is the challenge of understanding between men. Lack of culture leads man to ignorance and the annihilation of men and countries.

Paco