We had such a great conversation with Dr. Janice Johnson Dias in this week’s podcast, talking about helping our children develop a core of confidence, what we need to resolve in ourselves to be joyful parents, and so much more, that we decided to continue the conversation today on Instagram Live!
In today’s conversation Janice and I returned to the concept of joyful parenting, what that means and how we can do it. Janice explained that parenting with joy doesn’t mean having to be happy all the time, but it requires that parents have a “reservoir of optimism” parents need to in order to support their children and maintain their own mental wellness. We talked about the need to work on that reservoir of optimism, and to treasure a spirit of playfulness and fun with our children.
We focused on how Black families need to resist the desire to keep our children sheltered. We need to encourage them to expand their world beyond our family units, and see themselves as part of a bigger and more diverse world. In order to do this, however, we have to make sure that our children have a core of confidence that is fueled by their knowledge of and pride in their history, and we talked about ways to help them learn their histories and develop that confident core.
We dove into so much more during this IG Live, and judging from all the supportive comments, our first time out was a hit! If you missed it, you can catch it on IGTV here. And don’t forget to listen to this week’s podcast, “Are You Parenting Like It Matters? with Dr. Janice Johnson Dias” here, and subscribe, rate and review!!
