Hello GCPers,
It has been a while since a new post has appeared, due to a ridiculously persistent bout of bronchitis. As I have been resting and coughing over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog. I believe so strongly in its mission– to aid, guide and inspire parents of boys of color– and as the four (!) years have flown by since its inception, the need to focus on parenting our boys grows even greater. I sincerely thank all of you who are reading this for doing so; I know that there is so much to read in the crowded blogosphere and I appreciate your taking the time to read GCP.
But what I imagined at the onset would be a lively conversation among parents about what works and doesn’t work is mostly one sided: I post (love using the journalistic “we”, but 99% of the time it is me) and aside from the periodic “likes” (thank y’all very much) there is little feedback. Lots of spam responses (all sent from people with the same strangely fractured command of English) but not a lot from the folks for whom the posts are designed.
I get it; I read a lot of blogs and rarely comment myself. But this process would be a lot more fun and useful if we were actually having conversation, don’t you think? In my recent appearance at the Chautauqua Institution, during the q and a session I was able to have lively conversations with parents which continued after the formal discussion ended. It was helpful and interesting, certainly for me and I believe for them as well. This kind of discourse leads to discovery. How can I/we move this blog further in that direction? In my perfect world GCP is filled with guest posts and conversations about parenting which have lots of differing ideas and points of view. Parenting is such a complicated and tough job; if we open up and talk with each other about it honestly, it can be made a bit simpler (or at least less stressful, as we will know that others are making the same mistakes).
So please: talk back to GCP! Comment on this piece and let me know what you would like to see more of, what you like about the blog, what you don’t like, what you’ve found helpful or what you think would be more helpful. I can (and will) continue to post about things on which I believe parents should be focused. And “we” will certainly be posting Thoughtful Thursdays (this is my favorite thing–old English majors die hard). But I need your help and your perspectives to grow this into where it should be. Ground Control Parents, please speak up!!
Thanks so much,
Carol
Carol Sutton Lewis
Ground Control Parenting
