The Global Mom Show: The Podcast for Moms with Global Worldviews

Today on the show, I talk with Christa Jimenez about the commitment she’s made to raise her children to be bilingual. She is living in the US, but she is doing a lot of things to keep her two girls connected with their heritage, since her husband is from Costa Rica. Christa is the founder of the blog Pura Vida Moms. She’s a former Spanish teacher, and she’s also the host of an online vlog called BilingualWe. She and I talk about some of the common methods of teaching children another language and how even learning a few phrases can transform a child’s brain.

Links mentioned on the show:

Spanglish Baby

Three methods of language learning:

Great quotes from the show:

“Mothering is its own language.”

“Bilingualism is a spectrum. It can look like different things.”

“As soon as kids start hearing a second language…their brain is re-wired in a different way.”

“As far as bilingualism…nothing is too little.”

I hope you gleaned some ideas from this that will inspire you to at least attempt to get some second language exposure in the life of your child. If you want to listen to another episode about language learning and raising bilingual kids, check out episode 26, Bringing Up a Bilingual Child with Rita Rosenback.

Find Christa:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter |BilingualWe

Find Mary Grace:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below, or find us on social media.

FEATURED RESOURCE: This is for you moms who may be living away from your home country or who have lived overseas in the past and are seeking ways to build community and gain knowledge about some of the issues affecting families who are expats, missionaries, diplomats, service workers and so on. The resource is the Families in Global Transition Conference, which is happening this week in the Netherlands. You can go on the website and follow them on Twitter. Follow the hashtag #FIGT17NL to hear about everything that is going on at the conference this week. You can also look up all the presenters and speakers and get an idea of some of the issues they are talking about. The theme is Building on the Basics: Creating Your Tribe on the Move, and the keynote speaker is Naomi Hattaway, who runs the I am a Triangle platform, and she is going to be on the show in a couple of weeks.

SPONSOR: The Global Mom Show is supported by fans and listeners who want to keep the conversation going. If you would like to support the show, one of the easiest ways is by doing your regular shopping on Amazon using The Global Mom Show’s link. Just go to www.theglobalmom.com/amazon whenever you shop, and you won’t be charged anything extra, but the show will get a tiny commission for every purchase. If you want to find out more ways to support the show, go here and you’ll find a variety of simple ways you can support they show—without it costing you anything.

SPECIAL THIS WEEK: Have you seen Tea Collection’s cute, fun, well-made, globally-inspired clothes? We have a few of these items in my boys’ closet, and they always wear well and look great. They are offering a special sale from March 21-March 25th!  Use code KOALALOVE receive 15% off any 3 items, 20% off any 4 items, or 25% off any 5 or more items when purchased together. Offer available online only and valid through 3/26/17 at 11:59 PM PT.  Purchase here: Tea Collection

Would you like to hear more from me in your inbox? If you sign up to get regular emails from me, I’ll send you my guide: 10 Ways To Make Your Home More Global–No Matter Where You Live.  Just text GLOBALMOM to 444999. Or sign up here. 

Thanks for listening today, Have a great week, and remember, you can live a global life wherever you are, and teach your kids to do the same.

The post The Many Ways to Be Bilingual, with Christa Jimenez (TGMS 32) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Several months ago, I came across an article by Sonia Smith-Kang on The Mash-Up Americans website titled: How to Talk to Your Mixed Race Kids About Race. Sonia’s steps were straightforward and accessible, and I knew I wanted to have her on the show to talk about her background and how she’s raising her own mixed-heritage children. Sonia is the creator of Mixed Up Clothing, a fantastic clothing line full of patterns and styles from all over the world. She is also a writer and blogger and a contributor for Babble, Huffington Post, and Mash Up Americans. Sonia and her designs have been showcased on NBC’s Today Show, The Real, Latina Magazine, Huff Post Live, CBS Los Angeles, popular magazines Celebrity Baby Scoop and Babykins Magazine, and at cultural events across Southern California. She is the co-founder of Mixed Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and she is married, has four children, and lives in Los Angeles, California. Sonia herself comes from a mixed heritage, and she wants all mixed race children to know that they don’t have to explain themselves to anyone–they are whole, complete, 100% people who can identify with all of their heritage at once. Listen in as she shares her tips and conversation topics for talking about what can be a taboo subject.

Links from the show: 

Dr. Maria Root: Bill of Rights for Mixed Heritage

Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage

I HAVE THE RIGHT…

Not to justify my existence in this world.

Not to keep the races separate within me.

Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.

Not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical or ethnic ambiguity.

I HAVE THE RIGHT…

To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.

To identify myself differently than how my parents identify me.

To identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters.

To identify myself differently in different situations.

I HAVE THE RIGHT…

To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial or multiethnic.

To change my identity over my lifetime–and more than once.

To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.

To freely choose whom I befriend and love.

Quotes from the show: 

Each person of mixed heritage should be reading this and have it posted. It gives you the right to be who you are and not have to justify your existence.”

To say you are colorblind is not okay anymore. What folks want you to do, is they want you to see them…it’s what you do while you are seeing them that’s the issue.”

Find Sonia: 

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Find Mary Grace:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below, or find us on social media.

SPONSOR: The Global Mom Show is supported by fans and listeners who want to keep the conversation going. If you would like to support the show, one of the easiest ways is by doing your regular shopping on Amazon using The Global Mom Show’s link. Just go to www.theglobalmom.com/amazon whenever you shop, and you won’t be charged anything extra, but the show will get a tiny commission for every purchase. If you want to find out more ways to support the show, go here and you’ll find a variety of simple ways you can support they show—without it costing you anything.

GET MY FREE GUIDE: 10 Ways To Make Your Home More Global–No Matter Where You Live.

The post Talking to Your Mixed Race Kids About Race, with Sonia Smith-Kang (TGMS 31) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Anjelica Malone and I just kept talking, and we thought we would share the rest of our conversation with you. We touch on the refugee ban, books we want to read, how we’ve developed an understanding of our global identity, and things we are loving right now.

Here’s the show notes:

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Poke

Sorta Awesome- Refugee episode

Hidden Figures

Homegoing by Yaa Gayasi

Americanah

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

Born a Crime

Fresh Air with Trevor Noah

Misunderstood: the impact of growing up overseas in the 21st century

The Screwtape Letters

Texture app

Dwell

Clean Eating

A Farm

Domino

Essence

National Geographic

Time

Chineasy

The post BONUS Episode: Mom Chat with Anjelica Malone appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Have you ever met someone and immediately connected? That’s how it was with me and Anjelica Malone. She started listening to the podcast after the first couple of episodes last summer, and soon she was sending me voicemails (using the tool on the right side of this page) to tell me about what she liked about the show, what she learned, and who she was. We ended up communicating back and forth, and I came to learn that she has her own blog, website, shoppe, and global motherhood story. Since then, we’ve started chatting on Voxer and we’ve been tossing around ideas for ways to collaborate. In this episode, I got to ask Anjelica some questions about her background as a third culture kid, military kid, global nomad, and mom.

Anjelica currently lives on Guam, but is moving back to the US in a few weeks. She’s a mom of two little girls, and she and I talk a lot about developing our own version of motherhood, one that allows us to be ourselves and not get sucked in to the waves of culture all around us. Anjelica is also a lactation consultant with a new book coming out soon. (Read about it here.)

In this week’s episode we talk about Anjelica’s background, her philosophy on motherhood, how she met her husband, how materialism affects us, how we understand our place as third culture kids and adults, how she sources items for her shoppe, and so much more. We talked so much we had to continue the conversation in a couple of bonus episodes!

Here’s a picture of one of the tote bags that Anjelica designed and now has made in Guatemala.

Here’s where you can find Anjelica: Blog | Instagram |

Anjelica’s Instagram account is filled with beautiful photos of her island life, as well as inspiration about motherhood and life.

Find Mary Grace:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below, or find us on social media.

FEATURED RESOURCE: My featured resource this week is for all you mamas planning adventures with your little ones. If you need trip planning ideas, packing tips, or any of the nitty gritty details about taking a long overseas trip with kids, Stephanie Langford is your girl. A homeschooling mom of five, a serial entrepreneur, blogger, and round-the-world traveler, Stephanie is an expert at how to get your family moving around the globe. Check out her website www.entrefamily.com or her Instagram account for lots of photos and tips!

SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Around the World Stories.

The Global Mom Show is sponsored by Around the World Stories. These audio stories capture the adventures of kids from around the world and will introduce your kids to different countries and cultures, as they travel with the characters to new parts of the world. Each story is about 25-30 minutes long, and right now the authors are traveling around Europe with their children gathering information to write more stories. They take place in Denmark, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain. You can get a story a week for $9.95 a month, or get a membership for a year’s worth of weekly stories for $99. Download the stories and take them in the car or play them at home or from your phone. This is a great and easy way to introduce your children to other cultures. Head to theglobalmom.com/stories to give them a try.

Would you like to hear more from me in your inbox? If you sign up to get regular emails from me, I’ll send you my guide: 10 Ways To Make Your Home More Global–No Matter Where You Live.  Just text GLOBALMOM to 444999. Or sign up here. 

Thanks for listening today, Have a great week, and remember, you can live a global life wherever you are, and teach your kids to do the same.

The post Living Your Own Version of Motherhood, with Anjelica Malone (TGMS30) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

If you live in the United States, you know that this past year has brought to the surface lots of racial tensions. We’ve seen racism on the news and in our classrooms. And many of us have had to re-evaluate how we are thinking about and talking about race and discrimination. Now, if you don’t live in the US, you might be wondering why we are talking about race on The Global Mom Show. And that is because every country in the world has some sort of history with race—through slavery, colonialism, and now globalization, and immigration, all countries deal with racism or colorism in some way, so investigating it can help us better understand one another both in our own country and around the world. You’ve also asked for this discussion, so those are a few of the reasons that we are having it today.

Today, I’m talking with Lucretia Berry, co-creator (with her husband Nathan) of Brownicity.com, which provides resources and discussion opportunities for families wanting to learn more and talk naturally about race. Lucretia is a wife, a mom of three girls, a speaker and teacher, and she has a PHD in curriculum and instruction from Iowa State University. She is passionate about helping people overcome boundaries through spiritual and social consciousness. She is the author of  What Lies Between Us: Fostering First Steps Toward Racial Healing.  Brownicity promotes ONEness among people who have historically been divided by the lie, ideology, and legacy of race.

Lucretia and I talk about here story of understanding race, how she ended up marrying a white man when she never thought she would, and how she and her husband talk with their children about race and discrimination.

I really love Lucretia’s emphasis that we are all created in God’s image and that man created race. If man created race, then we can undo it. That gives me a lot of hope in the midst of some of the crises that are happening right now.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, really delving into the vocabulary and some of the resources that can be helpful in talking about race with our children, I’d love to offer a workshop for you about this. We would have it online so anyone could attend, and it would be a great way to dive deeper and get some real instruction. One of the things we mentioned in our conversation is that people of color talk to their children a lot earlier about race and racism than white people do. I even said that sometimes ages 6 or 7 can feel too young to talk about some of the atrocities of slavery and injustice. But, especially if you are a white parent, and you have been taught the colorblind mentality, then maybe talking about race to your kids or even among your friends or relatives still feels like a taboo subject. But, it really doesn’t have to be. So, if you would like to learn more, sign up here to show your interest. If we get enough interest, we will put together a workshop and let you know when it is available.

If you have questions about this episode, head over to The Global Moms Network Facebook Group to ask them this week, and I’ll be there along with some other moms who can chat with you about when and how to talk to your kids about race. Lucretia may even be around to answer some of your questions as well!

Find Lucretia:

Brownicity | Facebook | Instagram

Find Mary Grace:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below, or find us on social media and let us know how you are talking with your kids about race.

SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Around the World Stories.

The Global Mom Show is sponsored by Around the World Stories. These audio stories capture the adventures of kids from around the world and will introduce your kids to different countries and cultures, as they travel with the characters to new parts of the world. Each story is about 25-30 minutes long, and right now the authors are traveling around Europe with their children gathering information to write more stories. They take place in Denmark, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain. You can get a story a week for $9.95 a month, or get a membership for a year’s worth of weekly stories for $99. Download the stories and take them in the car or play them at home or from your phone. This is a great and easy way to introduce your children to other cultures. Head to theglobalmom.com/stories to give them a try.

Have you joined my email list? If you do, I’ll send you my guide: 10 Ways To Make Your Home More Global–No Matter Where You Live.  Just text GLOBALMOM to 444999. Or sign up here. 

Thanks for listening today, Have a great week, and remember, you can live a global life wherever you are, and teach your kids to do the same.

The post Talking to Your Kids About Race, with Lucretia Berry (TGMS#29) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Reading to your kids is a fantastic way to teach your kids about anything. It only follows then that multicultural children’s books would be an excellent way to teach your children about other cultures. But despite the number of mixed-race families and immigrants increasingly growing in the United States, the number of multicultural books being published is not growing. Four years ago, Mia Wenjen and Valarie Budayr (who I interviewed in Episode 17) decided that needed to change. So they founded a holiday, and made an effort to bring the need for diverse books to the forefront of the publishing industry. The mission of Multicultural Children’s Book Day (the holiday they started) is:

To not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day has grown to a massive event; last year’s day resulted in 96 million social media shares! Woah! (I guess some of us ARE interested in having diverse books!)

In this episode, I chat with Mia Wenjen, one of the founders about why it’s so important for people to see themselves in the pages of books and to see people different from themselves in the pages of books.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day is January 27th. Follow the event on social media at #ReadYourWorld.

Here are the show notes: 

Mia Wenjen is a mom of three, an entreprenuer, and the co-founder of Multicultural Children’s Book Day. She blogs at Pragmatic Mom. Her co-founder, Valarie Budayr, blogs at Jump into a Book.

Books mentioned:

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Debbi Michiko Florence, Jasmine Toguchi series

Uegaki, Suki’s Kimono

Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor’s Tale

Wisdom Tales Press

Laurie Halse Anderson

Kwame Alexander, Crossover

Great quotes from the show: 

“It is so important for EVERYONE to read about things that we are not familiar with.”

“Maybe the last barrier that I see that my kids face is understanding special needs.”

“Isn’t it even more powerful to read books about people and places that we don’t have access to?”

“If we are to overcome racism and other prejudices as a country, our best hope is to expose children…and let them see the whole vast world that they may not see in their communities.”

“What kind of training of education do these kids have about racism…? It’s as if racism doesn’t exist at all, if you look at our school curriculum from kindergarten through high school.”

Take a look at the multiple book lists Mia and Valarie have curated. Here’s one mentioned in the show: Diversity is in KidLit Presented as Everyday: This is a book list of books that show diverse characters, cultures, or celebrations, without making those things the theme of the book.

Snag the book for FREE on January 27th, and purchase it after that: Read Your World, A Guide to Multicultural Children’s Books for Parents and Educators, edited by Mia Wenjen

Find Mia online: 

Pragmatic Mom | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Multicultural Children’s Book Day | Facebook 

FEATURED RESOURCE:

This week’s featured resource is Barefoot Books. A multicultural book publishing company that’s dedicated to promoting diversity and understanding. The Barefoot Book of Children is a beautiful way to introduce your children to people around the globe and to what it means to accept everyone. Check out all their books at Barefoot Books.

SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Around the World Stories.

The Global Mom Show is sponsored by Around the World Stories. These audio stories capture the adventures of kids from around the world and will introduce your kids to different countries and cultures, as they travel with the characters to new parts of the world. Each story is about 25-30 minutes long, and right now the authors are traveling around Europe with their children gathering information to write more stories. They take place in Denmark, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain. You can get a story a week for $9.95 a month, or get a membership for a year’s worth of weekly stories for $99. Download the stories and take them in the car or play them at home or from your phone. This is a great and easy way to introduce your children to other cultures. Head to theglobalmom.com/stories to give them a try.

Have you joined my email list? If you do, I’ll send you my guide: 10 Ways To Make Your Home More Global–No Matter Where You Live.  Just text GLOBALMOM to 444999.

Thanks for listening today, Have a great week, and remember, you can live a global life wherever you are, and teach your kids to do the same.

The post Why Multicultural Children’s Books Are so Important, with Mia Wenjen (TGMS28) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

I wanted to say a quick hello to you all and pop in you podcast players to let you know what is happening with The Global Mom Show. Last year, I launched the show in May, and produced 27 episodes! I had so much fun connecting with global moms and starting to build a network of global moms who want to raise kids who love the world. I want to thank all of you for making that first year such a great success. Now, as we enter 2017, I’m even more excited about where the Global Mom Show is headed.

This year things are going to be a little bit different, instead of doing a show every week, and taking a few breaks in between, the show is going to consist of Seasons. Next week, Season 2 will be launching, and it will have ten episodes, released every other week for twenty weeks. Then, we will take a few weeks off and start in on Season 3, with another 10 episodes. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping you updated through email and Facebook, and will be sharing more blog posts and tips for how to connect with like-minded women and how to create a global worldviews in your home.

The upcoming season is full of some great guests talking about some really interesting topics. We are going to be focusing a lot about race and identity as well as some language learning and travel tips thrown into the mix as well. Next week is Multicultural Children’s Book Day, and my first guest is Mia Wenjen, co-founder of this international day that celebrates and advocates for more diverse, multicultural books. I had the other co-founder, Valarie Bydayr on Episode 17. That episode drops on Tuesday, January 24th! So watch for it.

After that, I’ll be talking with Lucretia Berry of Brownicity about dismantling racism, and I’ll be talking with Sonia Smith-Kang of Mixed Up Clothing about how to talk to your mixed-race kids about race. If you are not subscribed to the show, now is a great time to do that, just head over to itunes and look for The Global Mom Show.

If you are new here and this is your first time listening, we are glad to have you. You can check out past episodes on the website or through iTunes, there’s some great information there! If you head over to my website theglobalmom.com, you’ll see two buttons in the middle of the page, one says get the newsletter, and one says subscribe to the show, if you click on both of those and follow through with those, you will be all set to get connected with the podcast, my weekly emails, and information about how to join my private Facebook group for global moms. If you want to get in touch with me directly, tweet me at the global mom, or email me at [email protected], and I will respond to you! Get ready for the spring season, season two of The Global Mom Show. I will be back next week, Jan. 24th, with Episode 28! Have a great weekend, and remember, you can live a global life wherever you are, and teach your kids to do the same.

The post Get Ready for Season 2 appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you all for a fantastic first year of The Global Mom Show (we’ll it’s not really a year, since we just started in late spring…). This week’s show is a fun chat with my friend Lizzy, who lives in South Asia with her family. We share silly stories from our time in India, and she tells me about how she celebrates the holidays now. I also talk with my sister Ellen about keeping Christmas traditions in Musoma, Tanzania. And, my kids had to get in a little Christmas song for you at the end.

Thanks for listening!

Notes:

Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist

Alton Brown’s Sugar Plum recipe

Thanks to friends for sharing their favorite multicultural traditions:

Lisa Ferland, Anjelica Malone, Lauren Mokasdar

The post An Expat Christmas: Multicultural Traditions and Celebrating Holidays Abroad (TGMS 27) appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

Today, I talk with Rita Rosenback, author of Bringing Up a Bilingual Child, How to Navigate the 7 Cs of Bilingual Parenting. Rita is a full time writer, speaker, trainger and coach, and she maintains a blog that serves as a resource for bilingual families, Multilingual Parenting. Rita speaks Swedish, Finnish, English, German, and some Punjabi, and has worked as a language teacher, interpreter, translator, and manager of multinational teams.

Rita and I talk about her the 7 C’s of Bilingual Parenting, which you can read more about on her blog.

The post 26:Bringing Up a Bilingual Child, with Rita Rosenback appeared first on The Global Mom Show.

The post 25:Passing on Latino Culture to Your Kids, Hispanic Heritage, and Day of the Dead, with Monica Olivera appeared first on The Global Mom Show.