What are the alternatives to hybrid and remote learning? These moms share their experiences with homeschooling and unschooling with us. Black families saw the biggest increase in homeschooling this school year of all races. “The proportion homeschooling increased by five times” from spring 2019-2020 school year to the fall of this school year, according to the Census Bureau. If you’re considering homeschooling for the first time next school year, this panel of homeschooling and unschooling mamas is here to help.  During our Mama AMA series on pandemic schooling, experts discussed choosing ..read more

Randall Jones began calling New York City home in 2010. She moved halfway across the country, leaving most of her family behind to pursue a career that met her intersecting interests of communications and design. She didn’t come alone, though: several of her college friends were ready to call the big city home, too. The next few years brought a lot of highs: Randall had found her career (interior design) and met her husband (commercial real estate sales broker Dwane Omar Jones) alongside her friends. But as the years passed, many of those same women would begin to move away. With each “good b ..read more

Oh, you’re pregnant? Congratulations, friend! Whether you’re a first-time mom or a seasoned parent of four expecting your fifth, this pregnancy is a brand-new-to-you experience that needs to be celebrated. You’re bringing a new life into this world, and we’re so excited for you! We bet there are so many things going through your mind in preparation for the baby’s arrival. Who will they look like? What should you put on the baby registry? How will their arrival affect life as you know it? Are you ready to give birth? For Black women, that last question can be complicated. Bias in medicine can l ..read more

“Doula vs. midwife” is a phrase you may see when you’re Googling in the early stages of your pregnancy.  The interest in these two professions is understandable. Home births are growing in popularity, so you may have seen a celebrity or a friend share their wonderful home birth on social media.  And in this environment where racism can make birthing while Black a matter of life or death, getting the right team is even more important. (Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications than white women, according to the CDC.) As the foun ..read more

Recently, I was having a conversation with a close friend of mine, discussing some of the challenges she was having regarding her relationship with her father.  In the middle of the conversation, I said to her, “I can’t remember a time growing up when my mother ever told me I was pretty.” I began to choke up as I continued speaking because I had realized that I had never said that out loud. I paused for a moment, my friend watching me in disbelief as I came to this revelation.  I have heard people say that you should leave the past in the past, but at that moment I realized that my p ..read more

Every parent wants to raise hard workers who go out into the world and make a difference. But more than anything else, parents just want their kids to be happy. That might sound like an impossible balancing act, but it’s not! By practicing active listening, you can help your child express themselves and feel heard, encouraging their happiness and self-confidence.  Active listening—the process of intentionally listening to and understanding another person —can sound hard. As parents, we have many things on our minds and can be distracted. Sometimes, we don’t always know what to say or how ..read more

“Doula vs. midwife” is a phrase you may see when you’re Googling in the early stages of your pregnancy.  The interest in these two professions is understandable. Home births are growing in popularity, so you may have seen a celebrity or a friend share their wonderful home birth on social media.  And in this environment where racism can make birthing while Black a matter of life or death, getting the right team is even more important. (Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications than white women, according to the CDC.) As the foun ..read more

What would it look like for more Black moms and birthing people to give birth from a place of empowerment instead of fear? Even though the Black maternal mortality crisis is real—and really upsetting considering that Black women are three times more likely to die from birth-related complications than white women—we believe it’s possible for Black people to have empowered births. Part of that belief stems from knowing about doulas, the birthing professionals who provide emotional and educational support to birthing people. Studies have shown that doula-assisted mothers are more likely to have p ..read more

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Recently, I was having a conversation with a close friend of mine, discussing some of the challenges she was having regarding her relationship with her father.  In the middle of the conversation, I said to her, “I can’t remember a time growing up when my mother ever told me I was pretty.” I began to choke up as I continued speaking because I had realized that I had never said that out loud. I paused for a moment, my friend watching me in disbelief as I came to this revelation.  I have heard people say that you should leave the past in the past, but at that moment I realized that my p ..read more