The Joys of Being An African American Mom: An #MBIBMoms Twitter Chat with MyBrownBaby

I’m an African American mom with brown babies, and I take great pleasure in writing about the issues that moms of color and mothers of children of color face as we raise our kids—issues that are unique to us. Still, I happily co-sign the idea that at the base of it, all of us moms want the same things for our children—for them to be happy, healthy, smart, kind, honest, trustworthy, successful human beings—and race isn’t so much the matter in the day-to-day as is the idea that we all are raising little human beings.

I created MyBrownBaby not to rehash pathology, not to wallow in stereotype, not to pile onto the same storyline mainstream media consistently advances anytime Black folk are the subject, but to show the beauty of us, in all of our manifestations and to advance the conversation beyond fingerpointing, blame and a focus on the ugly. We have a myriad of experiences—experiences that deserve dissection and discussion. And, in some cases, highlighting. Because hardly anyone else is including African American moms in those kinds of conversations.

Those highlights can be as simple as commiseration over super weird pregnancy cravings, breastfeeding and the best ways to find a little “me time” when life as a mom gets hectic, or tips on how to tame a toddler or ways working moms can make life more manageable. Sometimes, truly, motherhood is about the little things. The human experience. And I enjoy talking about and sharing those moments as much as I do talking about race.

That’s why I’m excited to join P&G, My Black Is Beautiful and super mom bloggers Latham Thomas of Mama Glow and Jorian of Live Life Posh, for a Twitter chat tomorrow designed to get us talking about the beauty, strength and awesome that is the African American mom. We’ll be tweeting about our best—and worst!—mom moments, how we support our mom friends and all the ways we’ve tried to balance motherhood and our careers as we seek ways to be our best selves. You know, mom talk!

Join us for great conversation, plus prizes. Because… prizes! Who doesn’t like prizes? Who? Chat with us using the #MBIBMoms hashtag and you’ll be entered to win one of five Pampers #MBIBMoms prize packs.

How do you join in? First, follow us party hosts:

Denene: @MyBrownBaby
My Black Is Beautiful: @MBIB
Latham Thomas: @GlowMaven
Pampers: @Pampers
Jorian: @thatJoriangirl

Then follow the #MBIBMoms Twitter chat from 9 p.m. to 10pm EST tomorrow, Nov. 11, 2014.

Tell a friend—or 10! Let’s have fun talking about the little things that mean so much to the African American mom.

I look forward to seeing you there!

* * *

This post was made possible by P&G and My Black Is Beautiful. Of course, all opinions are my own.