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This post has been featured at The So Called Me.

Growing up I went to predominantly African American schools. I wasn’t taught much about diversity and different cultures, just racism and segregation year after year. Of course this had some effect on how I perceived other races. I developed schemas based on textbooks, television, and my surroundings. Although we were taught Martin Luther King’s dream multiple times in school, it didn’t have much affect on me because there was no uniting races when the school made up one race. I wasn’t exposed to diversity early on so I didn’t know how to interact once exposed later in life. Of course I was always taught to treat others with respect but the subject of diversity never really popped up. I remember entering high school, it was a predominantly African American high school but there was a noticeable percentage of Caucasian students as well. At first interacting with each other was a little awkward, making sure we didn’t say anything to offend each other. I remember at a band gathering having a conversation with a group of people of different races; “no offense” was used quite a few times. Nothing said was offensive, “no offense” was just said to be courteous just in case someone did take offense, I suppose. It just tickles me now thinking about it because we didn’t know how to act around each other. This was due to the lack of exposure and proper knowledge of other races and cultures.

It is important to start teaching children early about diversity. While it is important to teach your children to embrace their culture it is also important to teach them about the cultures of other people. It will help them better understand why some people do the things that he or she may not do, why, and to certainly not be afraid of them because of it. The key is to help your children become well rounded individuals because the real world is one gigantic melting pot.

There are a handful of stores that are devoted to promoting multicultural products for children. Regionz Kidz is a great place to pick up products to help teach your children diversity and unity. At Regionz Kidz you can find SUPER CUTE culturally diverse t-shirts for infants, toddlers, and mommies! Regionz Kidz’s t-shirts feature amazing sketches of babies in different regions all over the world. There are over 104 designs to choose from. You can even have a custom sketch of your child designed! In addition to t-shirts, Regionz Kidz offers books and games as well! Some useful articles and resources can be found on the Regionz Kidz blog and free coloring sheets can be found here! Regionz Kidz was founded last year and has gotten off to a great start! I look forward to seeing what the future brings!

JT’s tee from Regionz Kidz! Isn’t it the cutest?

As hard as it may be, us parents have to accept the fact that our little ones must grow older. As our little ones grow older they develop all kinds of skills, the first set of skills being motor skills as an infant. Although we don’t want our little ones to grow up, we must encourage development.

I had the opportunity to review Baby’s First Moves by Baby Einstein. Baby’s First Moves is a celebration of babies’ first milestones and encourages use and development of motor skills. This is the very first Baby Einstein video I have seen, so I cannot compare it to previous videos. I found the babies in the video to be quite amusing, reaching, rolling, sitting up, clapping, jumping, crawling, and walking! I guess I am easily amused!

Baby Einstein videos are not intended to be watched alone, they should be watched together to encourage discovery and help parents and their children interact. So, instead of sitting JT down in front of the television, we will sit with him, acting out the movements as the video plays and see how he does. Since we probably won’t have JT watching much TV as an infant, what we can do for future viewings is imitate the techniques in the video and have him face us a distance from the TV if we want to use the video for audio. Whether JT watches Baby’s First Moves or not, we still think that this video will be beneficial in our household!

A few months ago I lost my love for Pop-Tarts because for some reason it seemed like the flavor of the white bread had changed. I ran a search online and I found that I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Since then I have stopped eating Pop-Tarts up until last week when I was offered samples of Kellogg’s new whole grain Pop-Tarts in strawberry and brown sugar cinnamon flavors! Both flavors were so tasty! I’ve already added them to our grocery list! I know some of you are thinking Well gee she’s pregnant she’d eat just about anything right about now, lol. I SWEAR it’s not the pregnancy talking! I have never toasted my Pop-Tarts, so I eat them straight out of the box. They are great for snacking on and being pregnant, I’m snacking all day long! Parents can feel confident giving whole grain Pop-Tarts to their children as they are a good source of whole grains and only contain a few swirls of frosting on top of them as opposed to the big block of frosting on traditional Pop-Tarts. I am very pleased with whole grain Pop-Tarts. They are healthier and in my opinion tastier than the Pop-Tarts of yesteryear.

Being pregnant, I have to be careful about the cleaning products that I use around the house, especially for when Jayden gets here. When offered a chance to sample Clorox Green Works, I jumped at the chance. I received their natural all-purpose cleaner as well as their natural glass & surface cleaner. Both cleaners carry a lemony fresh scent and get the job done just like any other non-green product!

The advantage to using Clorox Green Works is that their are no chemicals in their formula. Clorox Green Works products are made from sustainable renewable resources. As of now, Clorox Green Works products aren’t disinfecting, but a formula to disinfect is in the works. Whether Clorox is jumping on the Green bandwagon or not, it’s about time for cleaning products that are healthier to use and have positive effects on the environment no matter WHO makes them.

In the Mommy Daddy household, we eat lots of pasta. If you were to open our cupboards you’d find that they are packed with linguine, rotini, and rigate, our favorites. On a recent trip to the grocery store, I attempted to place whole grain rigate into our basket. I’m a whole grain fanatic and thought it would be great to have since we’re both trying to eat healthier. BUT, Daddy has this thing with wheat products, he refuses to eat them. So of course he “ew’d” at the whole grain pasta that I wanted to try. This resulted in me walking away from the whole grain rigate with my bottom lip poked out and a plan to sneak the pasta into the basket next time when Daddy isn’t looking.

Ronzoni must have received a signal from me because they were kind enough to offer us some boxes of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Penne Rigate to try! And guess what? Daddy loves it! Whole grain pasta tastes no different than traditional pasta, but it’s so hard to convince Daddy when it comes to the “brown” stuff. Thing is, Ronzoni Healthy Harvest lightens in color when cooked so naysayers won’t even notice! Daddy’s definitely preparing me for the battle I have ahead with JT. Hopefully he won’t be as picky as his Daddy!

Tonight’s dinner featuring Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Penne Rigate!

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest’s whole grain pastas were introduced to provide more nutritious meal options. Ronzoni Healthy Harvest’s pastas contain three times more fiber than traditional pasta and is an excellent source of Omega-3!

In honor of Leap Day (February 29th), also the last day of Heart Health Month, Ronzoni decided to offer all Americans a free box of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest to encourage families to take a leap towards healthier eating. To find out how to get your free box of Ronzoni’s Healthy Harvest on February 29th, visit the special leap day rebate offer!

You also have a chance to WIN a free box of Ronzoni’s Healthy Harvest Penne Rigate! Since Ronzoni was so good to us, we wanted to share the wealth. Leave a comment telling us why you would like to try Ronzoni’s Healthy Harvest to be entered! Comments will be closed on March 5th at 11:59PM CST and 4 winners will be chosen shortly thereafter!

Update: Comments have been closed and the winners have been announced here! Thanks to everyone who entered!