black parenting
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Why I'm Not Going to Give My Kids 'The Talk'
“So,” the moderator asked, during a public (and socially distant) book talk last week—my first time being indoors anywhere other than my house or a grocery store since early March—“what would you change if you wrote that chapter to your daughter today?” I’ve been asked a variant of that question dozens of times in the…
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A Black Psychologist's Guide to Talking With Your Children About Race and Police Violence
Every black family has to have “the talk” at some point. Lord knows the opportunity keeps presenting itself and most of us never quite know how to approach it with our children or relatives. Coincidentally, I happened to stumble upon a Black-ish rerun last night that was focused on whether or not the twins were…
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Having a Baby While Black: NATAL Is the Podcast Pregnant Black Parents Have Been Waiting For
It’s a question you normally wouldn’t ask a stranger, but ever since starting a podcast about black people and pregnancy, Martina Abrahams Ilunga and Gabrielle Horton have fielded it constantly: Do they plan on having kids? Horton and Ilunga are the executive producers and hosts of a new docuseries, NATAL, which focuses on the entirety…
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Stepping on Shit in the Middle of the Night: A Discourse on Parenting Little Children
I’d like to be one of those parents who can say that my kids have never heard me use profanity. But I can’t do that. In fact, if you live within a mile of my house, it is highly likely that if you have kids, they’ve heard me use profanity. Stepping on shit my kids…
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Like a Mother: With a New Column and Coast, Writer-Activist Jamilah Lemieux Talks Progressive Parenting
Jamilah Lemieux is a millennial working mother—emphasis on working. The acclaimed journalist, activist, cultural critic, communications expert and “fixer” is one of the leading voices of her generation on issues of race, gender and sexuality, putting her imprint on everything from the 2012 rebranding of Ebony magazine to Cynthia Nixon’s recent gubernatorial run, where Lemieux…
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7 Black-Ass Things I Will Teach My Kids to Make Them HBCU Ready
My daughter is now 10 years old. This means in eight years she’ll be off to Spelman College in Atlanta to become the best she can be at the best HBCU in the country. I remember announcing on this here website that her mother was pregnant. Oh, how time flies. While my daughter can go…
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My Little Girl Turns Three Today. Here’s a Story About My Dad, Her ‘Peepaw’
In the summer of 1990, each day the weather and his schedule permitted, my dad and I would leave our rowhouse on Mellon Street and walk four blocks up Hays Street to the basketball courts lurking behind what was then Peabody High School. Once there, we’d park at one of the “good” hoops — either…
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Family Portrait: Kanye and Kids Cover Bazaar's Fall Fashion Issue
He may be your problematic fave, but Kanye West is also a proud father of three, two of whom he poses with for one of two covers of Harper’s Bazaar’s September issue. It’s a departure in tone for the fall fashion issue, which usually amps up the glamour. But this year it’s all about “Families…
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I See My Dad When I Look in the Mirror, and I’m Terrified I’ll Repeat His Mistakes
I was 34 years old when I could no longer escape the man I never wanted to see again. For the past 30 years, the day designated to celebrate men’s investment in their children has not brought me a great deal of joy. In 1988, just two weeks after Father’s Day, my dad was convicted…