Celebrating Democracy
As preschoolers, my kids loved participating in our community Fourth of July festival. They would decorate their…
MorePosts tagged: Cultural
Practicing Resilience & Resistance on Juneteenth
As a seven year old, my eldest energetically campaigned for a Lt. Governor candidate in our home state. When asked by a…
MoreRainbow Spirituality
One of my favorite Taylor Swift songs is “You Need to Calm Down”. It’s a bouncy pop tune with a powerful message:…
MoreRemembering with My Lost Freedom
George Takei is an actor, best known for his role as Sulu on Star Trek. As a four year old, he was forced - along with…
MoreTalking with Kids about the Pope’s Death
The death of Pope Francis is a big deal, with news services replaying his Easter Sunday ride around St. Peter’s…
MoreThe Fun of Fooling Others
“Mom, mom, there’s a cricket in my bed!” yelled my six-year-old son. I hurried down the hall to check out the…
MoreExploring Body Image with Big
The National Organization for Women reports that more than half of all elementary age girls are worried about being…
MoreCelebrating Black History Month in an Anti-DEI Society
Three of the Executive Orders signed by the President on Inauguration Day roll back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion…
MoreAppreciating Differences with The Truth About Dragons
In times of public divisiveness, children often turn to their families to decide how to think about differences. They…
MoreEncouraging Kids to Follow in MLK’s Footsteps
This year (2025), the U.S. presidential inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day both fall on Monday, January 20.…
MoreExploring Diverse Holidays with The House Without Lights
Holiday lights are a staple of many winter traditions. Solstice candles, Hanukkah menorahs, colorful Christmas strings,…
MoreStories for Cooking Together
The winter holidays offer many opportunities for families to cook together. What might sometimes seem like drudgery -…
MoreExploring Identity & Community with Moana 2
Moana spends her days exploring the ocean, searching for other islanders. The ancestors have said that her people will…
MoreExploring Diversity with The Only Way to Make Bread
Bread is a diet staple. It comes in many forms, from rye loaves and buttermilk biscuits to focaccia and tortillas.…
MoreTalking about the Election with Kids
My two older children were just 6 and 3 when their dad and I signed on as volunteers with a major election campaign.…
MoreExploring Values through Cultural ‘Holidays’
Pop up a digital calendar and you’ll likely see a host of cultural ‘holidays’ created to encourage local,…
MoreExploring ‘Freedom’ with Kids on Juneteenth
Every June 19th, the U.S. celebrates Juneteenth. It’s a national holiday commemorating the ending of slavery as a…
MoreHelping Kids Understand Symbols
Symbols are all around us, but sometimes they can be hard to understand. We need to know something about their cultural…
MoreEaster Around the World
Easter, like many holidays, is both a religious and cultural event. Some families focus on the Christian aspect, some…
MoreBooks for Women’s History Month
I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history’. It’s a reminder to myself…
MoreLiving Black History Projects
It’s Black History Month once again in the U.S., when teachers and group leaders plan lessons celebrating African…
MoreDreaming about Racial Equity with Kids
During the Black Lives Matter protests of 2021, my home city (Richmond, VA) struggled with the legacy of several…
MoreResolve to Learn Together
People of all ages make personal New Year’s resolutions. Adults resolve to be more patient, develop an exercise…
MoreSanta Spirituality
For many families, Christmas is - in whole or in part - a cultural rather than a religious holiday. And at the center…
MoreWinter Solstice Stories
For the Northern Hemisphere, winter officially begins on December 21st with the marking of the winter solstice. It’s…
MoreEl Día de Los Muertos
Hobgoblins, witches, and ghosts are staples of Halloween, celebrated with glee by children throughout North America.…
MoreExploring Identity with Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers
Sexism, racism, and classism are hard concepts for children to understand. Kids have a strong bias toward fairness and…
MoreCounting Kindness with Kids
Countless families and children become refugees when extreme poverty or violence force them to leave their homes. The…
MoreDreaming with Dreamers
Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales, follows a mother and her young child as they immigrate to the United States and begin to…
MoreExploring The Coquíes Still Sing
I grew up in Oklahoma, where tornadoes are a common summer occurrence. My family would huddle in the basement as sirens…
MoreBarbie Spirituality
Outside the movie theater, two young girls are pointing at all the people wearing pink. A group of women observe,…
MoreExploring Elemental with Kids
A few days ago, one of my children wanted breakfast for dinner, while another preferred Indian. The first argued that…
MoreCelebrating Juneteenth with Young Children
The United States’ newest federal holiday, Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of African Americans from slavery.…
MoreExploring the Gift of Rain with Sidney the Lonely Cloud
Like generations of children before them, my kids would chant, “Rain, rain, go away,” whenever raindrops threatened…
MoreRemembering Wars & Warriors with Children
“I found it mom, I found it!” called my daughter. ‘It’ was her great-uncle’s name on the Vietnam Veterans…
MoreExploring Fears with Bright Star
Fears are a part of childhood. Whether it’s worries about monsters under the bed, big dogs, loud noises, or parents…
MoreGenerational Spirituality
Spirituality isn’t just a social, emotional, or cultural aspect of life. It’s also biological, passed from…
MoreCelebrating AANHPI Heritage Month
Just a few weeks after cherry blossoms peak in the U.S. capital, Americans begin a month-long celebration of Asian…
MoreCelebrating Eid al Fitr
After 30 days of fasting, Muslim worldwide mark the end of Ramadan with Eid al Fitr, literally a festival of breaking…
MoreEaster as Spring Celebration
Eggs hidden on windowsills or in the grass. Baskets filled with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Pots of tulips,…
MoreExploring Loteria with Children
Daniel* wasn’t having much success lighting his campfire. Everything seemed stacked against him: too much wind, a…
MoreBabies & Racial Bias
My nine month old daughter cowered in my arms. She clearly didn’t want to interact with the person who had just…
MoreSpiritual Themes in The Door of No Return
Lessons about slavery in the United States typically begin with life on a plantation in the American South. This…
MoreCelebrating Kwanzaa with Children
Seven candles stand tall in a kinara, ready for lighting. Their number and colors (red, black, and green) suggest this…
MoreFamily Solstice Celebrations
When my children were young, a family friend invited us to a winter solstice party. There were sparklers and glow…
MoreCelebrating Native American Heritage
When I was growing up, November was a month filled with images of ‘pilgrims’ and ‘Indians’ sharing a…
MoreDiwali Spirituality
As fall crops are harvested and days grow shorter, many cultures and religions acknowledge the season with celebrations…
MoreGetting to Know Children Better
When marketers want to learn about people, they collect data about them. They then use that information to improve how…
MoreTalking about the Queen’s Funeral & Rituals after Death
Less than 24 hours after Queen Elizabeth’s death, media outlets were carrying articles about ‘what to expect’ as…
MoreBeing Antiracist with Kids
As a white researcher and teacher, I know I am susceptible to implicit bias. Even though I am committed to antiracism,…
MoreExploring Miss Quinces
Summer can often be a time of celebrations and reunions as family members and friends travel to see one another. In Kat…
MoreTalking about Ukraine with I Hate Borsch
Earlier this month, UNESCO added borsch, the national soup of Ukraine, to its list of endangered cultural heritage…
MoreTaking Flight with The Year We Learned to Fly
Cultural and spiritual heritages are often passed on to new generations through stories and teachings by elders.…
MoreBooks Celebrating Black Identity
Children’s spiritual well-being depends, in part, on strong self-esteem. They need to see themselves as individuals…
MoreSpirituality & Black History
February is Black History Month, a time when parents, teachers, and the media share stories of African American civil…
MoreExploring Where Wonder Grows
My dad collected rocks his whole life. He particularly liked geodes: rocks that - when broken open - contained a hidden…
MoreDo Threats of Punishment Serve a Spiritual Purpose?
To Elf or not to Elf? Every December, parents on my social media feeds wrestle with this Christmas conundrum. More than…
MoreWhy Children Confuse God with Santa
Santa is everywhere these days. Well before Thanksgiving, store displays and commercials were selling products in his…
MoreChapter Books about Refugees & Asylum Seekers
Older children often wonder about the reasons refugees and asylum seekers have left their homelands. They are able to…
MorePicture Books about Refugees
With stories about refugees and immigrants frequently in the news, children are certain to wonder about why they’ve…
MoreWelcoming Afghan Refugees
Many of the refugees airlifted to the U.S. out of Afghanistan last month are currently housed at Fort Lee in Virginia,…
MoreContextual Engagement
Engaging children in spiritual work is a contextual experience. Yet much of our understanding about children’s…
MoreAddressing Diversity
Creating a supportive learning environment for all children is a goal held by many organizations. Yet how to accomplish…
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