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Denene Millner is a parenting and relationship expert who’s written or co-written 18 books exploring all manifestations of love -- between men and women, parents and children, siblings, and friends. She also pens a monthly column for Parenting as a member of the magazine’s Mom Squad of experts, who help women negotiate the ins and outs of motherhood.

When she isn’t penning her column or writing entertainment, relationship, and travel features for magazines like Essence, Odyssey Couleur, and Heart & Soul, she’s working on her blog, MyBrownBaby (www.mybrownbaby.blogspot.com), where she provides thought-provoking, insightful, wickedly funny commentary on motherhood, for and by moms of color. Through her posts, Denene lifts the voices of African-American moms looking for the 411 / advice / a high-five on everything from pregnancy and childrearing to sex, work and relationships -- all filtered through the lens of the African American experience.

She’s also ridiculously obsessed with African American art and children’s books, and, in her next life, will be an interior designer with the astonishing ability to whip up drapes and fancy pillows. Denene lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, three children, and super cute goldendoodle, Teddy.


Friday, February 12, 2010 - 10:56
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
The losers I dated before I met Nick always seemed to find some random excuse to break up with me in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day.

"You're perfect -- I'm just not ready for you."

"I gotta figure out some things -- we should just be friends."

"Um, it's Monday."

Read Full Post
Friday, February 5, 2010 - 11:14
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
It was supposed to be a simple assignment -- a little something to remind the kids about their lesson on adjectives. Magazine and newspaper clippings + lots of glue + fancy descriptives = an easy lesson and the perfect student work display for the parent/teacher conference. Read Full Post
Friday, January 29, 2010 - 11:18
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
See, the thing is, she's a baby -- been on this here Earth only four short years.

And over the last few weeks, this pretty little chocolate girl with bright eyes and a mile-wide smile -- the daughter of a dear friend of mine -- has been battling a disease much too big for any child to bear, much less a kid who's yet to see the inside of a kindergarten classroom.

Leukemia.

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Friday, January 22, 2010 - 11:34
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
It's the cheese I remember - a congealed, yellowy-orange block in non-descript paper, with, I think, blue writing. You needed the might of Solomon to cut through it, it was so thick. All I could manage were chunks - never firm slices.

No, the slices - they were for people who could afford the good stuff. Our cheese came from the food stamp program - the government-run agency for poor families who couldn't afford to feed themselves without help.

Read Full Post
Friday, January 15, 2010 - 11:24
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
The numbers are incomprehensible — 50,000, 100,000, half a million. Perhaps we’ll never know — never have the accurate accounting of the unspeakable loss mother Haiti has suffered at the hands of a massive earthquake that shook the small, impoverished Caribbean country to its core.

There are small glimmers of hope — a church group lost and then found, a missionary and child advocate pulled from the rubble of the orphanage where she taught and inspired.

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Friday, January 8, 2010 - 12:38
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
"I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't like it, they said, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out." Parents have to take better control." —Charles Barkley Read Full Post
Friday, December 18, 2009 - 14:21
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
So my Lila absolutely HATES getting her hair combed. Like, “you need to inform me at least a week in advance of your plans to torture me by washing / detangling / twisting my hair so I can cry it out” hates. And of late, she’s taken to combing and styling her own hair to avoid my touching it.

Um, she’s 7.

Read Full Post
Friday, December 11, 2009 - 12:18
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
I almost died a thousand deaths the day my Mari came home from preschool and announced she wanted to be Snow White for Halloween. I mean, I understood that the kid wasn’t trying to make any grand political statements about her caramel skin and natural, kinky hair or anything. She was three. It was all about getting dressed up in the fancy gown and wearing a tiara. Read Full Post
Friday, December 4, 2009 - 13:21
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
It seems there’s never any rest for the weary, especially if you’re a mom. I mean, all day, every second of the day it seems we’re doing something for our little buggers:

School clothes need to be picked out…

Lunches need to be made…

Cereal needs pouring…

Buses need to be caught…

Laundry needs to be washed…

They need help with homework…

And a chauffeur to, like, everywhere…

Groceries need to be bought…

Snacks need to be made…

Read Full Post
Friday, November 20, 2009 - 16:29
by Denene Millner of MyBrownBaby
opair-parent-child-harness-leash

22 Wackiest Baby Products Ever

Super-strange gear you’ll never need but will LOVE laughing about (we don’t even know what a Placenta Brooch is!)