So a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this blog called Raising Self and this amazing post about "Raising a Strong girl of Color". Let me tell you this... I was inspired! 

For a few years now ( actually like 10), my husband and I have had many, MANY conversations about black culture and raising our kids to not only acknowledge the fact that they are mixed but love it and embrace it! 

Growing up, I was not surrounded by much of the "black culture" I was raised by my mom (white) and was really only around her side of my family. I had several black friends, but the ones closest to me were similar to me. I knew I was black but certain things never really seemed to be, I guess you can say important to me. Things like black dolls, black shows, black books and so on. They were honestly the same as white shows or books in my eyes. I never looked at them as something a little black girl like myself could/should be proud of. I just thought it was another doll or book.

But in high school, I decided that I wanted to dive more into black culture and try to connect with my other side. I wanted to see how my other half lived, traditions and their way of life. I know that may sound crazy but I really felt disconnected to my "black side".

Once I was married (my husband is black), it was brought to my attention that my disconnect was even worse than I thought. So after conversation upon conversation about the disconnect. It seemed like I was finally understanding what my husband was talking about. Why I was so disconnected and how I wanted to ensure that my children would understand that not only are they mixed, but that they should embrace it as well.

Like I said, I found this blog called "Raising Self" by Samantha Sophia and THIS is the article that made me change the way I raise my kids AND switch up the books we read!

I switched up the books we read... well technically added some new ones because I love the old ones too! But I added these books to our library at home! I wanted to make sure that they were reading a variety of books. Books that talk about different cultures (not school related), showcase people of color and definitely books with girls that look like them! I wanted my girls to truly relate to the characters and also see that there were books with kids that looked like them. Reading Samantha's post really inspired me to make sure that my girls know they are beautiful and also know that being black is beautiful! 

Do you think it is important to utilize items (books, dolls, pictures etc) that look similar to your culture/race? Let me know in the comments below!