June 11, 2020You Might Also Like

You Might Also Like: Answering Kids’ Questions On Race + Educating Myself

A rundown of what we’re doing, watching, reading, coveting.
Now every other Thursday. All linked here.

A rundown of what we're doing,
watching, reading, coveting.
Here's what's got our attention this week.

We continue to have a lot of big conversations around race in our house lately. As parents who strive to be straightforward + honest with our kids in life, it’s important to us to let them be a part of this critical on-going discussion of racial justice in an age-appropriate way. I found these simple tips for parents on answering questions about race to be super helpful in guiding and fostering conversation. Tip #3: ask a question back. A good reminder that the simple “What do you think about that?” can really break the discussion wide open. And then her last point about being mindful of our own body language as much as we are with our words–such an important reminder in general and especially so when discussing something potentially uncomfortable with our kids. I have found this to be so true when talking to our kids about death and contrasting this with how my parents talked about death, which was basically to not look at it head on. I hope we can help normalize comfort in the uncomfortable for our kids. Not easy. We have such a big job to do!
House of Nambili is on our list of Black-owned businesses to support, but I thought it was worth mentioning here, too, because I really love how print can make a product. (Obviously!) I didn’t know I needed shoelaces or a fan until coming across them here, using textiles from West North Africa + beyond. We’re adding to our list of Black-owned businesses regularly and would love to hear if you have any others to share. Email them to us at hello@lewisishome.com It goes without saying that where our dollars go, so goes the power, the space, the voice. We hope you’ll check out these businesses + consider joining us in supporting them.
Do you follow writer + comedian Sarah Cooper? It was this post that hooked me a couple months ago, and I've so enjoyed her humor speckled in my feed ever since. This one for couples-in-quarantine laughs.

I, along with a large part of our Country (based on bestseller lists), am currently reading Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Anti-Racist. He drew me in immediately in his introduction, talking about the biases he was raised with. He was born the same year as me and it was crazy that even as a Black child, experiencing biases and racism firsthand he could be raised with some of the same misguided thoughts as me in my white suburban bubble. It has opened my eyes tenfold to where my past and present biases come from and it dismantles them. I have a book club planned to discuss it at the end of the month with friends. One friend joked that it probably wasn’t that helpful to have just white girls discussing it, and another shared this article by Justin Cohen--a great take on how it IS helpful, and why white affinity groups have an important place in this world.
I’ve also been expanding India + Major’s library with more books about diversity and protest the last couple of weeks. I’ve seen several lists that recommend The Colors of Us and The Last Stop on Market Street. Both are long time favorites in our house that I recommend. I’ve just added to their library, This is How We Do It, We March, and Blue Sky, White Stars. After reading yet another great list this morning from @hereweread I’m eyeing Hats of Faith, Let The Children March, and A Kid’s Book About Racism. As a side note, Here Wee Read has incredible book lists for adults + children alike, on any number of diversity related topics.
This New York moment is so heartwarming and encouraging I could burst reading about it. It buoys up the goodness of people in a pandemic, the goodness of people during unrest and protest, the goodness of people of different backgrounds, the goodness of the people of beautiful New York City.