To aid parents of diverse backgrounds navigate the fun, yet challenging responsibility of raising multicultural children ages 7-12, Hispanicize digital CEO & Partner, Cristy Clavijo-Kish has joined forces with business partners to launch a new resource blog and media company, Los Tweens & Teens (http://www.LosTweens.com).
Motivated by her personal experience parenting identical twin girls, Clavijo-Kish initially founded Los Tweens to fill a void she discovered — culturally relevant parenting advice focused on the developmentally important “Tween” years (age 7-12). The owner/publishing team includes Katherine Doble-Cannata, a non-profit and immigration communications pro, and Adrian Acosta, a technology manager. Together they have created an environment that encourages parents to hone their parenting skills by sharing the joys, tips, questions and headaches of raising children during these key years, while fostering opportunities for parents and tweens to interact online in a safe environment.
“My daughter inspired me with an essay test answer that specifically called out the importance of understanding other cultures,” recalls Clavijo-Kish. “As a Latina mom I always strive to retain our cultural roots while raising confident, proud, patriotic kids in the US. I became aware that if I didn’t focus on schoolwork, friends, community service, discipline, spirituality AND culture now, I will have missed my opportunity. The teen years certainly will not be the place to start emphasizing its importance. Thus Los Tweens was born,” she adds.
In addition to featuring content from parents, upcoming plans for the bilingual family community blog include:
- Expert content – Contributions from pediatricians, mental health experts, counselors, teachers, chefs, fitness coaches and other experts, like this post by Dr. Lydia Kalsner-Silver, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children and families, discussing the warning signs of bullying in the tween years.
- TweenversationsTM – Hosted online chats with parents and kids that directly relate to their current issues and situations.
- Officially launching MyLosTweens.com where kids will be able to share ideas, photos, book reviews and more content alongside their parents.
- Local live events, including support for initiatives that provide opportunities for pre-teens to volunteer and pay-it-forward.
- Additional content partnerships that link specialized posts like Building a Tween’s Cuisine from Latino Foodie and news/data from non-profit organizations helping parents and kids develop skills and services.
A full Editorial calendar is ready to go with posts ranging from developmental changes in the Tween years to driving volunteerism and reviewing age-appropriate books, music, movies and more. Readers soon will start to see more diverse content as posts are originally created in Spanish and other languages, or translated. Important issues as immigration and education readiness that impact preteens in Latino and recently arrived immigrant families also will be a focus and special series. While the term “los” drives a fun, Latino flavor- the site openly welcomes contributions from varying cultures and will soon feature posts from Japanese, Haitian and parents of varying cultural backgrounds and beliefs.
“The idea is that we share our American culture as we’re raising children in the United States but are adding cultural heritage, communication skills, education and tackling issues together now, to broaden a child’s global view later,” said co-publisher Doble-Cannata.
For more details, contact Cristy, Katherine or Adrian via info@lostweens.com.