Exploring 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…
MorePosts tagged: Cultural
Counting 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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