Today being President’s day, and February is also being Black History Month, I wanted to take the time and reflect. We live in a world full of diversity, different opinions, different cultures, different beliefs and so on. It can sometimes be hard to know what to “believe” … what is “right” …. what is “wrong”… Opinions sometimes can be very confusing and overwhelming. I know for me, taking the time to really reflect on what matters is very important.
Being a mom now, I see the world a little differently. I want to protect my son from all things bad but that is just not possible 100% all of the time. You can not eliminate everything bad but also, should you? Should you never expose your child to the harm in the world because you think it will preserve their innocence and keep them safer? You as a parent know what is best for your child but for my family, I want to teach Joey, in an educated way, that the world is not glamorous all the time. There is crime, abuse, abandonment and those are just a few of the messed up things that go on in our world today. Not only that but I want my son to grow up knowing that not everyone is like him. When he eventually goes to preschool and then kindergarten I want him to know that not everyone has the same color skin, eats the same food, believes in the same god, and so on. I want him to be open to being friends with anybody and also understand that everyone should be open to being friends with him. Might seem a little early (he’s not even 5 months old) but I think that even things like the toys he plays with or the books he reads make all the difference because he is gaining exposure. Through the cartoons and just seeing that boys play with girls, there are white kids and there are black kids, some might be eating a different lunch than he would typically eat… all of these things to me are important because kids being this young, soak up EVERYTHING. They learn so much day to day and they are very observant.
I started small and went ahead and ordered a few books for Joey from Amazon. All of which include a mixture of cartoon characters but also try to illustrate that everyone is welcome no matter where they come from. We have been trying to read more to Joey because his attention span has slightly increased since bringing him home haha and he actually really enjoys looking at the illustrations. We usually try to read to him once a day if he allows. We will grab a book and sit with him in the rocking chair and just let him look and feel the pages while we read to him. Maybe so small but I think just being intentional with even the books you show your baby can be really beneficial to them. I will link up the books here if anyone is looking for any ideas! I plan on getting some more and maybe even doing a future post of Joey’s book collection? Is that something you guys would be interested in?
Anyway, no matter how you choose to raise your children you know best and should do exactly what you are comfortable with and what you believe in. These are just some ideas and things we like to incorporate into Joey’s everyday play!
Let me know if you would be interested in me posting some of Joey’s favorite books because I would love to show you guys his collection. Some of his absolute favorites right now are DR. Seuss. I myself also really enjoying reading him those!
-With love, Kasia
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