The Raising Ours Journey

Raising Ours began with a purpose. I wrote Raising Ours: A Black Parenting Guide for the New Generation as a testament to Black parents raising Black children, and especially to make space for the Black fathers who are too often erased from conversations about parenting, nurturing, and raising our families.

It was written to challenge some of what we inherited, to make room for healing, and to encourage us to raise our children with intention. To tell them we love them. To affirm them. To protect their identity. To give them words many of us needed to hear when we were young, while reminding ourselves that fathers can be present, nurturing, emotional, protective, and loving.

Then the mission grew.

Raising Ours: A Series for Kids was created because those messages do not have to wait until our children are older, and they do not have to be delivered only to adults. Through stories written for children, the same message can reach both generations at once.

A child can hear that they are loved while a parent is reminded to say it. A son can learn that tears do not make him weak while a father is reminded that his emotions have a place too. A child can learn to stand proudly in their name, history, and identity while the adult beside them is reminded why protecting those things matters.

Sometimes the lesson is for the child. Sometimes it is for the adult. Sometimes we are learning, healing, and growing together.

That is the journey of Raising Ours.

Because it’s always been up to us.