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Childhood experiences, such as having quality playtime or being allowed to try new and different things without the fear of being told we’re wrong or stupid give us permission to be creative and take risks as adults. –Julia A. Boyd                                                 On this day, I pledge to allow my sons opportunities to experiment, to stumble, to […]
My father use to work two jobs and still come home happy every night. –Magic Johnson On this day, I will remember that even the most tedious tasks can be made more bearable by realizing that seeing me shouldering responsibility will help my sons learn what it takes to be successful in the world. Read […]
When I was twelve, my mother gave me a diary, and I would write in that and ultimately in notebooks and journals. Writing [The Women of Brewster Place] did for me what those journals did when I was a painfully shy, very troubled teenager. It got my life in order. –Gloria Naylor                                                    On this day, I […]
One day after another meet and another loss, I came home and complained to my family that I was tired of losing. I pinned pictures and articles about track and field on a bulletin board in my room, and started setting goals, writing them down and tacking them onto the board. –Carl Lewis                                                    On this […]
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. –Oprah Winfrey                                              On this day, I will take five minutes to ask my sons what gives their life meaning, and to encourage them to celebrate what they find there now. I will ask what they would like to find […]
Hate is consuming and weakening. Hateful thinking breads negative actions. –Marcus Garvey On this day, I will take five minutes to identify objects of my hatred and consider whether  holding on to these hatreds is helping me or hindering me from being the kind of parent I want to be and from attaining my personal goals. Read […]
If you make yourself into a doormat, people will wipe their feet on you. –Belizean proverb On this day, I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons the idea of priorities, and that they must resist letting people knock them off track. Read more…
People will say, “You’re a terrific black general.” I’m trying to be the best general I can be. –Colin Powell                                                  On this day, I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons an item relating to black pride—kente cloth, for instance, or a family photograph—and suggest that they let that object inspire them to […]
We have been sad long enough to make this earth either weap or grow fertile. –Audre Lord On this day, I will take five minutes talk to my sons about the skills and attitudes it takes to be successful, possibly using examples from our family, historical figures, or contemporary celebrities. Read more…
The impulse to dream had been slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again, and I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing. –Richard Wright                                          On this day, I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons something that either I or they have read. Read more…
My mother adorned with flowers whatever shabby house we were forced to live in. She planted ambitious gardens. Before she left homes for the fields, she watered the flowers, chopped up the grass, and laid new beds. Because of her creativity with flowers, even my memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms. […]
I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow damned up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not weep at the world–I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. –Zora Neale Hurston On this day, I will take five minutes to help my sons focus on the joy and blessings […]
