Decolonized Motherhood
I launched the Vida With Christie Podcast in 2018 with the intention to share my experiences, challenges, and lessons as I navigated motherhood. At the time, my daughter was a toddler and family/friends often commented positively on her behaviour and demeanour, and I felt this was a result of the way my husband and I were raising her. They mentioned how she would “actually listen” when we spoke to her and/or that she was so “well-behaved”. I was not applying some magic formula into my parenting style, but rather I was treating her how I would have wanted to be treated at her age. Back then, what I referred to “we are raising her differently than how we were raised based on our experiences” eventually came to be known as breaking intergenerational cycles.
Breaking Intergenerational cycles (and/or curses) has become a popular term for millennials and gen Z to share the ways in which we are actioning “it stops with me”. What our parents and ancestors experienced growing up was likely out of their control, however there is no doubt that resulting from those experiences they carry trauma which caused them to act and react in certain ways which impacted us negatively as we were being raised by them. As a result, we also carry trauma from our upbringing experiences.
As I explored and (me-)researched these elements deeper through my podcast and personal curiosity, I received a calling to pursue this work academically. Through my findings, I have come to the conclusion that the elements that caused and still cause trauma to myself, my parents and ancestors derived from colonialism. In fact, most of the oppressions which we experience within society, from racism to childism, derive from colonial thought, praxis, and foundations.
As a result, I began to see my parenting journey as un- and de-colonial. The things that I was originally trying not to repeat from my upbringing as I raised my daughter to be a happier and healthier child, I began to approach as decolonized motherhood.
Decolonized Motherhood goes beyond just the way I bring up my child, it reaches all the way to how I see myself in the world and how I also see the world. For example, when I look into the mirror I LOVE myself, see my ancestors’ strong and thick thighs, a belly that created life and carried the most precious human to me for 9 months, I see breasts that nourished my child for 2.5 years; even though there is a little voice in the back of my head reminding me of the many ways I should hate and criticize myself. That is a colonized voice, the voice that wants me to be insecure about my brown and fat body, even though my body is an incredible force to be reckoned with. When I check myself and tell that colonial voice to STFU, I actively decolonize. liberate and reclaim all the beauty and strength that I am.
Decolonized Motherhood is meant to be an inclusive community for all those that want to reflect, (un)learn, embrace, reclaim, empower, and so much more. It is meant to be a safe space for critical thought and collaboration, a space to examine, explore, call out/in, share, and then some. The paragraph above is a small sample of what’s to come through my work on this website. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, teachings and resources in the form of articles; while also expanding on Vida With Christie Podcast episodes with an academic and (me-) research-based lens.
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Christie Lazo
Christie Lazo immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of 7 from Lima, Peru and currently resides in the Toronto area. She is a dedicated mother of one and a career-driven digital marketing strategist by profession, with more than 10+ years in the communications industry specializing in higher education. Additionally, she is a decolonization and liberation educator with an expertise in parent and childhood education.
Christie Lazo is currently completing her MA Degree is Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Her research interest is in the pedagogical approaches of decolonizing motherhood and achieving liberation through breaking intergenerational cycles. As her academic interests stem from her own lived experiences, Christie pursues an autoethnographic research approach, in addition to focusing on first-generation millennial and Gen Z immigrant parents as her primary demographic.
As a community organizer, Christie is the founder of “Diversity in Dufferin County“, where her goal is to celebrate and nurture diversity, equity and inclusion within Dufferin County, and a founding member of the Dufferin County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Community Advisory Committee (2020-22).
She is the host of the Vida With Christie Podcast which educates and supports parents in raising aware and empowered children. Christie began podcasting in 2018, prior to the “big boom” of podcasting in 2020, as she recognized the potential in the medium and wanted to share her parenting insights beyond blogging. The Vida With Christie Podcast reaches international audiences and is recorded in both English and Spanish. Through the episodes, Christie shares her experience breaking intergenerational cycles throughout the many aspects of parenting and as an individual for be a better parent to her child. In addition, Christie speaks with experts with academic, professional and lived experience within the episodes to share a variety of insights within the parenting space.
We as parents have the incredible super power of influencing the future with how we raise our children.
Christie Lazo
During her downtime, Christie prioritizes spending time with family, travelling home to Peru, playing video games with her daughter, or checking out a trendy new restaurant with her husband. As self care, she loves to cuddle up with her Aussiedoodle fur-babies while sipping on tea and reading a good book or binge watching the latest streaming releases.
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