On this blogging journey, I want to openly work on my motherhood, assessing how I raise a conscious human. Like, what does that even mean? The definition of radical I will be using is the adjective, a word of quality and content.
Radical: adj. characterized by independence of a departure from a tradition; innovative or unorthodox.
With that, there are two questions that keep coming up for me. To clarify, my lens is coming from a cis-het, Mexican first-gen, Californian, first time mother. The first: who gets to decide what radical means? And secondly: why does radical mean different things for different people? I found moms from various demographics defining their radical motherhood through Christianity and Catholicism, through punk rock, through Chicana academia, and being advocates for cannabis.
What traditions am I departing from?
Gender roles in the household * Being open about mental health and taking medication * Openly apologizing * Colorism within my Mexican culture and family * Healing from generational trauma * Navigating a multi-cultural household * organized religion
This list will act as a guide and can shift as I shift in my learning. My hope from all you Radical Mommas reading this is to assume that I am learning how to mother. Assume I have positive intentions for my daughter and family. Assume I want to look at situations with an asset-based lens; looking at what is positive. Through my training in education, I am coming with a Trauma-Informed approach to mothering; learning to heal from my own emotional traumas. And lastly I ask that you assume I am here to practice growth mindset.
As I conclude this first entry, I ask that you all understand that I am not a certified expert in psychology and will reference the work of other psychologists. My formal education is in sociology and fine arts (painting). This space is important for me to learn because I cannot afford to continue my education in a formal setting. That should not stop me or others like me to stop learning or desiring to do academic work for the community.
Through this, I hope you are inspired to create your own authentic motherhood and (un)learning.
Stay rad mommas.