Posted in Islam, children, gender, spiritual on June 10, 2008 | 10 Comments »
God, grant me the strength to live in a world that does not acknowledge me as a full human being and yet to know, with fullest unshakeable conviction, that I am.
Beloved, protect me from grasping hands that seek to draw themselves upon my canvas.
Cherisher, grant me the strength to make it through puberty. Let me [...]
Posted in USA, academic, children, gender, political, social science on May 26, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Excuse the sensationalistic title but it’s been a while since I blogged and I might as well be punchy for a change. I just moved to Oklahoma to start a tenure-track position, and am exploring the new environment, the new culture, and a new house. The move and adjustment have given me very little time. [...]
Posted in children, cultural, gender on March 11, 2008 | 11 Comments »
I picked up a DVD of Strawberry Shortcake (Strawberry Shortcake meets spring) in a moment of desperation at a Columbia, MD baby thrift store a few months ago. I regretted spending that $8, so I’d like to warn you not to. Strawberry Shortcake is not my ideal role model for Raihana. Her primary characteristic is [...]
Posted in academic, children on March 7, 2008 | 8 Comments »
My niece immigrated to join her mother in Australia while in middle school. Every time I speak to her on the phone, she tells me how easy her curricular material is. She is at the top of her class in math and science. It’s so easy it verges on boring. “Because,” she says, “it’s all [...]
Posted in children, spiritual on January 17, 2008 | 5 Comments »
As I chatted with the woman working on her laptop in the café, we ended up sharing notes about our respective toddlers’ childcare. She told me the Big Daycare (the one I had failed to get Raihana into) had become a Big Warehouse, and I told her the Little Guy across the street was a [...]
Posted in USA, Urdu, children, poetry, political on December 4, 2007 | 10 Comments »
I chanced upon this heartbreaking poem here when looking for children’s literature in Urdu. The barefoot child is hurrying along, her small wrist grasped firmly by a uniformed (probably American) soldier’s hand. She is holding a bundle high–she is small, so she is trying to hold it up so it doesn’t touch the ground.
Mama, look!
Get [...]
Posted in children, desi on December 3, 2007 | 18 Comments »
I need to create:
1. Urdu foam letters that are safe for a toddler.
2. my own board books
3. burn CDs with Urdu children’s songs.
Can someone tell me how to find the materials, and easy ways to get these things done in minimal time?
Posted in USA, academic, children, gender on November 8, 2007 | 6 Comments »
In The Truth of the Mommy Wars, Nora Newcombe (professor of Psychology at Temple University), discusses how the debate is framed, so as to place responsibility (and blame) entirely on women. Many words are expended on women’s “choices” to work, when we know, as we struggle to raise families in the United States - which [...]
Posted in Urdu, children on October 3, 2007 | 11 Comments »
I showed Raihana a spider yesterday and called it “makree” (in Urdu). Because I was trying to occupy her and keep her in the high chair for a meal, I had a brief conversation with her about the makree. In part this was because the makree gave me the heebie-jeebies something awful: this was no [...]
Posted in children on October 2, 2007 | 8 Comments »
Raihana has started to look very much like a big kid, as in, toddler not baby. As she should, because today she turned 18 months old. I’ve tried not to compare her and yet have compared her to other kids her age, and I believe she’s started to look a little bigger than she is [...]
