Category: family
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Decolonization is never done: a model for reflecting on decolonial parenting
Sitting down to write a reflection post on our journey so far got me thinking about how we measure success, both as parents and people working on decolonizing our minds and relationships. I propose a model for reviewing our parenting, that I’ll be using myself in the coming months.
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Hopeful holidays and special days
As much as I want to instill a sense of responsibility, reflection, and connection in everything we do, I recognize this needs to happen in proportion to the magic of childhood, too, especially when it comes ro festivals.
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On being an older mother
The biggest thing I’ve experienced coming into motherhood at the cusp of middle age is the sheer wonder I have for something that almost passed me by. I almost decided not to have any kids, but I just couldn’t fully commit to that decision, and I guess this is why.
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Parenting in an age of genocide
This cannot be the world we want to raise our children in. Thankfully for now, my child is too young to observe, note, or understand the atrocities taking place (in Gaza principally but not solely), but how can we explain to them how we are watching this horror show unfold like it’s just another Netflix…
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Not gentle parenting but conscious parenting
Of course I want my kid to be tough enough to navigate the brutal world that lies ahead, but I don’t believe that tough love is the only way to achieve this. I do want him to be more emotionally healthy than I was growing up, and I recognize the value of gentle parenting in…
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Colonialism, capitalism, climate – and us
What can we do in the face of the power and resources of increasingly emboldened climate criminals? How can we fight for the planet and teach our children it’s worth saving?
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Sustainable living (the personal kind)
As the primary caregiver of a breastfed, contact-napping, cosleeping, velcro baby, I need to find ways to top up my cup in the slivers of time I get to claim as mine. I can’t wait for a day off, or even until nap-time, so what can I do instead? These are my main tactics:
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Liniment oléo-calcaire
Multicultural life is exhausting, so it’s soothing to find things that feel like wins. Something like, being able to pull from multiple different cultures. Yes, I genuinely pick and choose what part of each culture I want to keep and what I want to ignore. I believe that sticking to things “because that’s how we’ve…
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How we cloth diaper
Maybe we got lucky but we feel like it has been pretty easy to cloth diaper our baby. We decided early on in pregnancy that we were going to give it our best shot, and spoke to a lot of parents who started then stopped or who intended to cloth diaper but then didn’t. Based…
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Breastfeeding is hard – my story
This is a read best left for those who are seeking reassurance and solidarity in their breastfeeding struggles.
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Learning from my own lessons
Speaking personally, the hardest thing to reconcile growing up mixed was the way my European (and religiously Christian) parent dismissed a lot of my Asian parent’s cultural observances with religious logic. Whilst faith and festivals are often intertwined, it’s still possible to celebrate the festivals and what they teach us about our history and culture.…
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Why I’m doing postpartum confinement
Yes, the truth is that I am under no obligation to do a postpartum confinement. I am not fully Chinese, my partner’s family is not Chinese, and I don’t live in a Chinese community. There is no social or cultural expectation that I would follow any Chinese traditions of any kind (including all those feast…