Welcome to Parenting Decolonized Ya’ll!
Welcome to Parenting Decolonized Ya’ll!
OMG…this is real. Like, I have a parenting blog and podcast.
SHIT JUST GOT REAL!
I’m both excited and nervous to start this decolonizing journey with you all, but it’s a necessary journey that we must take. Our kid’s future depends on it. If that sounds like a huge weight, it is. It’s something I take seriously, thus why Parenting Decolonized was born. But first, let me formally introduce myself..
My name is Yolanda Williams. I’m a Digital Marketer by day, a blogger/podcaster by night, and a single mom 24/9 (I added 2 days because sometimes the days feel longer with this rambunctious baby over here). My daughter Gia is the reason for alladis ya’ll. She’s was an unexpected gift that has opened my heart and expanded my mind in ways I never knew possible. I knew I didn’t want her to go through the same things I went through. So that meant being intentional about healing my childhood trauma. Thing is, I quickly realized it wasn’t just my childhood trauma that needed healing. What I was also suffering from was the effects of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome. I thought kids needed fear and violence to be “good”. But as I dug deeper into conscious parenting , I realized that kids are inherently good and the idea that children, namely black children, need violence to be made into good people is racist trope perpetuated by white supremacy. I was shook to say the least. I mean, I thought I turned out fine because of my childhood. Through some very hard introspective work, I learned that I turned out fine despite my childhood…there’s a big difference.
But being a conscious parent in culture that prides itself on having obedient, respectful kids isn’t easy. That’s when it hit me…the indoctrination of white supremacy and anti-blackness starts in black homes. And ya’ll may not like this but ummm…many black parents are unintentional gatekeepers of white supremacy. Fears leads a lot of us to uphold toxic parenting practices which perpetuate prevalent racist stereotypes about black people like…
– Black people are inherently bad or violent people and thus need violence to be controlled
-Black girls/women are hyper sexual seductresses
-Black girls/women are argumentative and have attitude problems
-Black people are lazy
Our fears are valid…it’s scary AF to be a black parent but also equally just as scary to be a black child. But it’s time we stop allowing these fears to control our parenting narrative. I saw the need to create a safe space to discuss how we can decolonize our parenting by discussing these fears out in the open and letting these skeletons out the closet and the Parenting Decolonized podcast was born.
I created the Facebook page before I even started recording so I could spread the word and made a post about Black Breastfeeding Week featuring a poem by Hess Love, which was shared over 1.2k times and featured in Upworthy And that’s when I realized the potential power of calling out racism and decolonizing parenting. It took me a minute, like I said, I’m a single, working mom, and sleep deprivation is real AF, but here I am.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to decolonization!
HEART!
Yolanda Williams
Welcome to Parenting Decolonized Ya’ll!
OMG…this is real. Like, I have a parenting blog and podcast.
SHIT JUST GOT REAL!
I’m both excited and nervous to start this decolonizing journey with you all, but it’s a necessary journey that we must take. Our kid’s future depends on it. If that sounds like a huge weight, it is. It’s something I take seriously, thus why Parenting Decolonized was born. But first, let me formally introduce myself..
My name is Yolanda Williams. I’m a Digital Marketer by day, a blogger/podcaster by night, and a single mom 24/9 (I added 2 days because sometimes the days feel longer with this rambunctious baby over here). My daughter Gia is the reason for alladis ya’ll. She’s was an unexpected gift that has opened my heart and expanded my mind in ways I never knew possible. I knew I didn’t want her to go through the same things I went through. So that meant being intentional about healing my childhood trauma. Thing is, I quickly realized it wasn’t just my childhood trauma that needed healing. What I was also suffering from was the effects of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome. I thought kids needed fear and violence to be “good”. But as I dug deeper into conscious parenting , I realized that kids are inherently good and the idea that children, namely black children, need violence to be made into good people is racist trope perpetuated by white supremacy. I was shook to say the least. I mean, I thought I turned out fine because of my childhood. Through some very hard introspective work, I learned that I turned out fine despite my childhood…there’s a big difference.
But being a conscious parent in culture that prides itself on having obedient, respectful kids isn’t easy. That’s when it hit me…the indoctrination of white supremacy and anti-blackness starts in black homes. And ya’ll may not like this but ummm…many black parents are unintentional gatekeepers of white supremacy. Fears leads a lot of us to uphold toxic parenting practices which perpetuate prevalent racist stereotypes about black people like…
– Black people are inherently bad or violent people and thus need violence to be controlled
-Black girls/women are hyper sexual seductresses
-Black girls/women are argumentative and have attitude problems
-Black people are lazy
Our fears are valid…it’s scary AF to be a black parent but also equally just as scary to be a black child. But it’s time we stop allowing these fears to control our parenting narrative. I saw the need to create a safe space to discuss how we can decolonize our parenting by discussing these fears out in the open and letting these skeletons out the closet and the Parenting Decolonized podcast was born.
I created the Facebook page before I even started recording so I could spread the word and made a post about Black Breastfeeding Week featuring a poem by Hess Love, which was shared over 1.2k times and featured in Upworthy And that’s when I realized the potential power of calling out racism and decolonizing parenting. It took me a minute, like I said, I’m a single, working mom, and sleep deprivation is real AF, but here I am.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to decolonization!
HEART!
Yolanda Williams
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