It’s always nice to receive positive feedback on products that you yourself love and put a lot of time and energy into developing.  Below is a review of my products from a young lady Krissy in Cali.

One of the most important things that we can do as mothers is instill our children with good and positive self esteem, especially in our young black boy and girls. When my daughter was born her skin tone was much darker than of myself, my husband and our son’s skin. I remember my son asking “why is she so dark?” I was upset that my son would ask such a question or maybe I was very sensitive to the fact that her beautiful dark brown skin tones would been seen by some as less than or inferior.

So often we as a black race do such a disservice to our young black boys and girls by not instilling in them a love of self, regardless of their skin color or their hair texture. When my daughter was born I felt an absolute duty to make sure that my daughter knew that she was a beautiful, intelligent black princess.

I can’t stand, no I actually hate when I hear other women discussing their hair or their son or daughter’s hair in negative terms such and “nigger hair”, “nappy hair, “kunta kenta hair” or just plain old “bad hair.” Why are we still passing down this slave mentalities to our children???

I would like to encourage you to help stop this negative self hatred that we have of our hair by passing down the healthy hair torch. I believe that if we can re-educate ourselves by learning how to care for our own hair and come to love our hair just the way God made it, then this will trickle down to our daughters.

Every where you turn we are bombarded with images on television or in the movies with women that are of another race with long beautiful hair or our siztas sporting a straight wig or weave on the music videos or CD covers. Then there is the one big thing that really just gets under my skin with how our young black sons and daughters are portrayed in either print or TV. Is it me or do they always pick the boys or girls with so called curly locs or try to make it appear as if they have naturally curly hair??? What? Are pig tails and cornrows out now because “they” think our children are more acceptable if the have naturally curly hair?

So, just like anything else, we must start at home filling our daughters with positive images of African American women. Making sure that we are not using negative terms to describe our hair. Educating ourselves then passing on the knowledge to our daughters so they can then pass it on to their daughters and before we know it we would have written a new llegacy for our duagthers.  How to  love and nurture their own hair, and accept with great honor the hair that God saw fit to give them.  We should also make sure to have reading materials that accurately reflect our little girls hair and skin color. Lastly, lets make sure that we are always speaking words of life to daughters becasue as so truly stated in proverbs 18:21″ life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

I try to make our hair combing routine something special that my daugther looks forward to because she knows that the end result will have her looking like a princess.  I take this time to speak with my duagther and tell her how smart and beautiful she is and what beautiful hair she has.  Already, at the age of 3 she is very aware of the images of Barbie and Hanna Motanna that I was trying my best to keep her from.  So, I try to balance out the playing field every chance I get with books and dolls that reflect her skin color and hair texture along with loving and reassuring words of affirmation worthy of  a chocolate princess my Mocha-Chocolatta.

I just had to write about an event that took place a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been telling everyone I know, so I thought I it post it here in my blog so that I could share it with the world.

One Saturday morning shortly after my daughter Aryanna had finished her breakfast, she requested a snack. I explained to her that she would be allowed a “healthy snack” (fruit or yogurt), but she could not have the cookies that she was intent on having. Aryanna was well aware that her nanna was coming by that morning and proceeded to tell me “fine, I will just ask my nanna.” So with a stern voice, I said “NO” you will not ask your nanna and you can not have any cookies. I again explained to her what her healthy snack choices were.

Shortly after her grandmother arrived and I was washing dishes when she walked in and immediately gave her attention to Ary. I had totally forgotten the conversation over the cookies just that fast when I turned around to see Aryanna and her nanna with the snack door open and Ary pointing up to where the cookies were placed nice and high on the shelve. I quick got their attention by calling her name is a very stern voice “Ary” I yelled. “What did I tell you???” She in that moment did something that I knew the day would come but not at age 3, she quickly ran behind her nanna and grab a hold to her leg as she peep out from behind. I said “come here” wiggling my finger and motioning to come to me she again peeped her head from behind her grandmother and told me “NO”. I was amazed and I must admit I was a little tickled although I didn’t reveal that the her. Once again, I wiggled my finger and said “get over here, now.” Again, I got a “NO.” Ok, now I’ve had enough and I grab her arm and gave her a nice swat on the behind and told her to “get up stairs to your room right now”

Again, to my utter surprise, she defiantly jumped up and down while screaming “no, no, no, Nanna, Nanna, help me!” That’s when I went for my belt and as I scrambled for my belt I could hear in the background as she spouted out “I have to pee, pee”, my mother in law quickly ushered her into the bathroom while continued to look for my belt. As a last resort, I unbuckled the strap to my purse (as I had done before) and waited for her to finish her bathroom business. Upon her resurfacing I immediately scolded her in a stern voice when she blurted out “I sorry mommy.” For some reason, although still angry at the events that had just taken place mins. earlier, that statement warmed my heart (they just sound so darn cute at that age). Again, I explained to Aryanna why she was being punished and told her when she came back down from her room she had two healthy snack choices. She said “ok mommy.”

This event between my three year old and I made me realize that I was going to have to gear up mentally for the battle that often occurs between a mother and a daughter. Something that I think my own mother has long awaited for me to get what I gave her those many, many years ago!

Being a stay at home mom has it’s challenges, but being a work at home mom is one of the most difficult things I’ve come across thus far!

In January of this year I decided to leave my full time position to work full time at my business which rocketed in sales in 2007 giving me almost no choice as the demand was too great to handle on a part time basis. I thought to myself “this is going to be wonderful,” I will be able to stay at home and work my business full time and spend more time with my family and especially my Mocha Chocoloata Aryanna.

Little did I know that trying to juggle the two, even while being home full time was more than a notion! I don’t understand, where does the time go??? I never seem to have enough time to do it all. After much contemplation and a lot of guilty feelings, I decided my daughter needed more than I could give her to stimulate and nurture her inquisitive mind that would inevitably turn to mush if I didn’t act fast.

So, on this past Tuesday my husband and I went to check out a day care facility of a young lady that was part of our story time group that met on Tuesday at the our local library. We had checked her out a month or so earlier knowing that this time would come and come it did.

Aryanna was so excited as she wanted a school to call her very own after watching her brother (Gerald age 14) get in and out of the car as we dropped him off and picked him up every day. She would say in the cutest voice “that’s Ary’s School too”, and I would say “yes, you will go to school soon sweety.” So, when we arrived to check out the day care she was so excited she couldn’t wait. She walked in and made her self right at home as if she had been attending school for years. She begged us to stay as we walked out the door pleased with what we had observed, I assured her she would start school the next day.

The next morning I dropped Aryanna off at her very own school and she spent the day with her new friend Jacob (there are only 2 children in attendance at this time). When I picked her up, I knew I had made the right decision as she greeted me at the door with her new hat she had made during arts and craft, her school work in hand of the number 5 (the number they worked on for the day), and her picture she had drawn during art time.

Later that evening Aryanna told me all about her first day at school and as I sat working at the computer I heard her singing a new song she had learned earlier that day in school. That brought so much joy to my heart because I knew that she had a full day and she was given the attention that her young mind needs. Although, she will only be going to school for two days a week to start off, I am so glad that my husband and I made the right decision to give our daughter what she needed.

Welcome to one Sizta bloggin where I will talk about things that are important to me such as after having a son for 11 years, the Lord blessed me with a beautiful baby girl. My daughter is 3 years old now and the challenges of raising a daughter are entirely different from raising my son. When I found out that I was carrying a girl, my mind was over flooded with so many thoughts as how I was going to raise my daughter to love herself and esteem herself to feel the love of a mother and a father (which I never had). To know that she is adored by her father and to accept nothing but greatness. How in the world am I going to instill all of these qualities that I myself never felt as a child and young teen? How was I going to instill in my daughter who came out with beautiful dark chocolate skin, that she is a beautiful black women to be treasured?

My Mohca Chocolatta, Aryanna…..how I thank the Lord for you!