Parenting in the Pandemics: Looking into My Window

Looking into the window of Mama J’s life with her 5-year-old daughter Jaylin.

I have remained silent. For 22 weeks or five and a half months.

I am done protecting what’s no longer mine to hold.

I am a Black Queer mamapreneur running two businesses.

I am CEO and COO co-running a household with my partner.

I am the primary caretaker for my 5-year-old daughter: 50% of the time.

I am parenting across two households and racial difference.

I am in the vortex of Liberatory, trauma-informed, anti-racism work.

I am rooted in love, intentionality, and healing.

It’s with this lived experience, I offer a window into the lessons of grief, surrender, and Liberation as a parent in the pandemics of COVID-19 and Anti-Black Racism. This amidst the endless fear-mongering us back to a “new normal.”

Our Yearning for Normal

When things are hard, our instinct as humans is to return to what once was, even when that too was hard, painful, and empty. That’s how it felt when my 15-year partnership and marriage ended nearly 2 years ago. I was…