mater mea’s Jamyla Bennu of Oyin Handmade On Parenting Outside Her Expectations

Today on MyBrownBaby, we celebrate mater mea mom Jamyla Bennu, parent of two boys and co-founder of the honey-based natural hair and body products line, Oyin Handmade. Here, Jamyla, photographed by Erika Salazar for mater mea, talks about the biggest lessons she’s learned as a mother parenting a son with a speech delay.

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What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a mother?

Learning to respect the kids as individuals and allowing them their own time frame for development, and to grow outside of my expectations. My oldest son had a speech delay when he was 2.5, and his linguistic language does not come easily to him. He has a really strong mathematical and engineering mind, and is strong in kinesthetic and physical languages. I sometimes say his first language is charisma and English is his second; he tells you what he needs with the sparkle of his personality. [Parenting him] has been one of my biggest lessons and I’m still learning it.

This photo and quote was reprinted with permission from mater mea.