Nothing says, “My children are growing up!” like a chore chart! I guess we are leaving the baby phase! My youngest is 4 and my oldest is 11. Also, I started to realize that I was repeating the same stuff every day, “clean up your room, update your calendar, take out the trash!” I needed a robot!! But since a chore chart is cheaper, I went with that. 

At first, I was thinking I would hang a color-coded poster board with chores listed and mark each day with stickers. Or buy one of those calendar dry erase boards with magnets that you see on Pinterest. But I didn’t want to call it “chores,” “Jobs,” or mommy’s helpers. How do you expect anyone to get excited about anything called “chores?” or about being “the help.” Then there are child labor laws, jk, lol! The chore chart is bigger than that. I don’t want my children to do the chores because I say so, but because they want too (intrinsic motivation, character development, umoja, ujima)!!! (insert giffy of light shining) I want them to see the interconnectedness. How doing a “chore” or self-help develops them as individuals (mind, body, and spirit) and helps us reach our goals as a family. However, as the idea for the title developed, so did the chart. 

The chore chart became a chakra chart. And the chart became a personalized chakra interfacing system. Birthing the Chakra Interface System (CIS)!!!
I created a monster!!

Before you accuse me of overdosing on Yerba Mate & Kola Nuts, which is probably true, hear me out!! 

Sure! Slapping a poster on the wall would have been easier, but as I stated before I’m trying to “grow humans” here (as In-Tune Mother Project would say)! My intention in parenting and educating my children is not to reproduce employees aka “the help.” The belief of women as baby-making factories supplying the nation's’ factories is a bullet-ridden train hobbling through the black hole of patriarchy. I say, I decide what missions for which to guide my starseeds. The 1st Teacher: Neuro Nurturing series is committed to nurturing the whole child (mind, body, and soul). This vlog is just a preview into the entire series full of meaningful parenting and homeschooling hacks.

I saw the chore chart as an opportunity to build character, purpose, critical thinking skills, and literacy.
The CIS:

1. Is interactive/kinetic/visual: if you want to teach children, appeal to their senses/sensory. The Chakra Interfacing System (CIS) makes the child move. She has to move her body to sort and shift the daily chores/assignments. Movement invokes memory and is FUN! Sensory is also brain-based appealing to the multiple intelligences.
2. Strengthens parent-child bond: the CIS provides a healthy way for the parent and child to communicate with each other. My child lets me know she did the chore by hanging it on the chart. I acknowledge her activities by tallying the Chakra Cards and offering a Privilege Card. Of course, there’s good old-fashioned yelling, but I’m too pretty for that! Lol.
3. Promotes literacy and increases vocabulary. The picture of the activity (chore/study/pray) is on one side of the card, while the word is written on the other.
4. Is personal. The children feel connected and excited about the CIS because I used photos of them in it. It also gives a sense of ownership. “This is mine and my responsibility!” instead of “there goes Mom imposing her imperial rule on us.”
5. It’s culturally appropriate and creates a true worldview. Not only did I use photos of them, so they see melanated children, but I also used photos/clip art from around the world. Therefore, it boosts their self-esteem, again develops a sense of ownership, and develops a sense of connectiveness with the African diaspora, Ummah, and the world at large. Representation matters!!
6. Promotes Umoja/Unity/Family Loyalty/Cooperative Learning. On a regular chore chart, each individual is striving (competitive) to get the most stickers or to check off a list. But with the CIS my children teach and help each other learn the system and complete the tasks. They actually divvy up the task among themselves. At the end of the day we tally up individual scores, but we also tally the total composite score for all 3 of them. They strive to reach an overall total number, not just individual. They check on each other and cheer each other on.
7. Democracy/Negotiation. Promotes critical thinking skills because I left some of the chakra and privilege cards blank. They are not limited to the activities listed on the Chakra Cards and they can create new privileges.
8. It’s spiritual. The CIS teaches the chakras (energy centers important for health and balance) & 7 Kwanza principles. The cards have chores, school assignments, and spiritual practices (i.e. prayer, dhikr, yoga, going on a walk). This teaches that maintaining/feeding the spirit is important. Our body has rights over us; self-care, reaching one’s full potential.
9. Fits different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, free-spirited, etc). It can be parent-led (for younger children, special needs, etc) or child-led (those ready for more independence etc). The parent can hang the Chakras they want completed and then the child will hang them on the lower 3rd hook upon completion. Or, the child can take the chakra activates directly from the cup and hang it on the appropriate chakra hooks as completed.
10. Focus on completion (one’s full potential) versus standard definition of success as only material things and titles, you as a human matter. Building your higher self. Instead of focusing on chores/jobs, CIS focuses on chakras. As mentioned before, CIS includes physical, intellectual, and spiritual activities.

Points to Remember:

• Parents don’t always have to offer a privilege.
• What is considered a privilege in your home?
• What type of people are you trying to raise?
• This Tribe Neuro VLOG article is an example of a "1st Teacher" video. The Version in the subscription involves more detail and resources than the vlog version and includes consultation. Please help Rites of Passage Institute to keep providing women's wellness and family education services by enriching your family with the "1st Teacher" Video Subscription!!

Free Download Links mentioned in video:
Chess Cards
Alphabet Cards

Chakra Resources
Chakra Bear
Free Chakra Coloring
Free Yoga Printables
Chakra scavenger hunt
Chakra bingo
Chakra System:
Major channels through which life force flows into physical body; mediating channels between astral and physical bodies associated with major glands (endocrine system) and acupuncture points.

​Yoni Steaming?!! Vajacial?! Steam What?! Who? How?!! Yes, show your “girl” some love. It’s ok. The rhetoric about ladyparts being nasty and dirty has died with your great aunt’s missile bras and taken us deeper into our roots.  By embracing our bodies, we are also dusting off ancient traditions that we lost through oppression, colonialism, slavery, witch hunts, and or westernization. Mannn, listen! You know it must be good if it survived all of that!!

 Yoni steaming is “Me” time, self-care, and has its sensual pleasures too.  When I say it’s a small part to a bigger picture, I mean it’s a break off from the Hammam (i.e. Turkish Bath) culture and from the womanhood rites of passage rituals throughout Africa, Asia, & Arabia (pretty much the indigenous world). To learn more watch the video below, visit our shop (where you can purchase yoni steam herbal blends, yoni steaming chairs/stools, etc), attend a Rites of Passage Institute Workshop, or book a yoni steaming session with us! Oh, and I am drinking tea in this video, but I promise I’m not putting anybody in the sunken place 😉