- Make Art in Honor of Frida Kahlo
Most of us are familiar with the iconic, radical Mexican painter and activist, Frida Kahlo. She spent her adolescence coping with mental health challenges and adjusting to a physical disability by creating vivid pieces of art. Her self portraits dramatized trauma and facial features in a post-colonial hegemonic culture. Through the lens of the self, Kahlo commentated on the society she lived in.
Frida’s art allowed her to freely express messages to the world, but she also cultivated self love through her paintings. Her embrace of the holistic self was an exercise of acceptance that still resonates with young people today.
A multitude of activities can be inspired by Frida’s legacy to teach your children about challenging beauty standards and practicing self love. Start with a self portrait, utilizing mirrors to create honest pieces of artwork. What physical features do your children love about themselves? What makes them feel beautiful?
Beyond art, Frida’s sense of style has struck a chord with her fans to this day. She adorned herself with bold outfits, statement piece accessories, and created a signature look. Open up a conversation with your children about what kinds of outfits they feel most confident in. Spend the day dressed in your most lavish, empowering looks, all while creating art!
Youngsters may even enjoy creating their own floral headbands, modeled after Frida’s, as well. Check out this link for a tutorial. Nannies and parents, don’t forget to tag us if you make these! We’d love to see how they turn out!
- Cleanup Your Community like Greta Thunberg
You don’t have to be a grown up to make a difference. The power of a kid’s voice and actions can make a change, too!
Introduce your kids to the story of youth activist, Greta Thunberg. Greta truly demonstrates that even kids can promote social change. Her work challenging global leaders to take action against climate change rings throughout the world!
In line with Greta’s mission to protect the environment, spend the week making improvements to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle as a family. Perhaps you can challenge yourselves to take shorter showers, recycle more mindfully, or even become involved in local legislation to protect the land.
Nannies can keep an eye out for COVID safe activities to help the environment, too. Lots of cities host cleanup events on a weekly basis! For instance, Oakland’s womxn of color owned, sustainable cafe, MudLab hosts weekend Lake Merritt cleanup events. Together, community members give reusable waste a new breath of life, and properly sort out trash. Check out their meetup page to see if you can attend the next one, and help keep the East Bay’s treasure beautiful for all.
- Family Open Mic Night, Inspired by Chyrstos
Born in San Francisco, Chrystos is a highly esteemed Menominee writer, best known for her work about her intersecting indigenous, queer, and two spirit identities. Chrystos uses poetry as a tool to spark social change through storytelling and uplifting Native American voices.
This exercise is for your big kids and teens! In honor of Chrystos’ commitment to the power of words, school aged children can practice freeform prose and reflection. Emphasize that poetry doesn’t need to follow a particular structure; prose poetry can take any shape they’d like. What would they want to share about their experiences? What stories of their own have meaning and lessons embedded in them? If your children could tell the world anything, what would it be?
Take the immersive experience a step further and transform your home into a cafe “open mic night” to read your poetry! Nannies can help their charges prep a fun menu of teas to sip while the whole family listens to performances.
If your big kids particularly enjoy the writing exercises, encourage them to continue to use their voice! Bay Area organization Youth Speaks has free online writing workshops for teens, as well as clever writing prompts to keep the creativity flowing
- Get Active and Use Your Voice Like Serena Williams
As a woman of color, world renowned champion tennis player Serena Williams surpassed every boundary that stood in her way to become a professional tennis player – especially with the support of her father as a coach, and sister as a teammate.
She exemplifies the power of dedication to passion projects. Throughout her career marked by success and accomplishments, Serena has used her platform to uplift the voices of others. Her harrowing experience in giving birth to her firstborn daughter, Olympia, inspired her to speak out about how women of color are treated in hospitals. Her near-death childbirth experience sparked a national conversation about improving black birth outcomes, which has had a ripple effect in hospitals throughout the country.
Serena’s passion about fitness, health, and equality for women in the workplace and hospitals has made an impact on her following. Her story can make a positive impact on your children, as well.
Get outside and be active as a family in the spirit of Serena’s life’s work! While moving your bodies, open up a conversation with your kiddos about which hobby they’d like to turn into a career, if they could.
- Do Something Special to Appreciate Powerful Womxn in Your Life!
Every family has their own story. During this International Women’s Month, take some time to teach your kiddos about the wonderful womxn in your family tree. Honoring your ancestors’ legacies as a family is a powerful bonding experience that will remind your children of the strength inherently inside of them.
Here are some fun ways you can celebrate the womxn in your life:
- Share your grandmother’s secret recipe with your children, and tell stories about her while you eat together.
- Take a day trip to your loved one’s favorite park.
- Watch your mentor’s favorite movie together as a family. What does the movie tell you about their values?
- Write thank you notes to womxn relatives and mail them off to family members who live outside of the area.
- Door drop! Leave a floral arrangement on the doorstep of a womxn who supported your family!
- Look through photo albums with your children and share your memories with them.
This doesn’t have to be an exercise exclusively for parents! Nannies, you can prepare an activity to teach your charges about a womxn you admire, as well. This can be an experience to form a greater bond and understanding between you and your entire nanny family!
Families, if your nanny identifies as female, perhaps you can encourage your children to do something to honor her, as well! The role that womxn childcare providers play in the lives of children is impactful. Go ahead and show them some love and appreciation, as well!
Recent Comments